I’ve been watching a pair of Red-necked Grebes on a local lake since early this spring. They mated and built a nest in May, but the nest must have failed, because no little grebes ever showed up. They hung around though, and a few weeks ago I saw the mating behavior again. I eventually found their new nest, and last night we took the kayak out to check on their progress.
No grebes at the nest. Uh oh.
But wait….there they are….and….success! Baby on board!
I’m not too sure about these grebes’ parenting skills. I watched as they tried to feed the baby a fish that was twice as big as the baby:
Not surprisingly, junior couldn’t manage such a huge mouthful, and the parent dropped the fish. In his excitement, the little guy toppled overboard:
The parents didn’t seem to know what to think about this flopping around behavior.
But he popped up again, and managed to scramble back on mama’s back.
Ain’t nature grand?
Off the Beaten Path: Hikes, Backpacks, and Travels 
Grand indeed. I love those baby on board photos and a bonus story.
Thanks, Lyle. Seems to be the time for baby posts!
Fantastic, what a great experience! Love the photos of baby on board.
I was pretty happy – my non-birding friends thought it was cute, but didn’t share my out-of-bounds excitement!
This is great! I smiled and laughed out loud at their parenting skills.
I checked on them this morning, and they have moved to a safer part of the lake – a good sign! Thanks.
very cute
🙂
Wonderful photos! All taken from a kayak?
Yes, all from the kayak. I’ve noticed before that grebes let us get surprisingly close to them when we’re on the water; they must think we’re just huge grebes!
What a fantastic sight!
I agree! Thanks.
Oh, for cute. That baby.
Yep. So cute!
Kinda gives me hope for the kids raised by inept human parents. 😉
xo
Unfortunately some human parents are even more inept than these guys! (The grebes have been successful so far, by the way – I just saw the whole family yesterday.)