Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) with chicks are rarely seen, let alone observed in detail and photographed. While Little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) or Great Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus) too, can be found everywhere, at least in Europe, and at least one of the two species can be admired in fairly calm waters, Eared Grebes are much rarer. But once you have seen these funny little diving birds or noticed the concentric rings on the surface of the water where the bird disappeared a second ago, the desire of nature photographers to photograph Eared Grebes grows. However, the birds are generally quite shy and quickly disappear when a vehicle stops to take some quick (and often blurry) pictures. Patience and / or a camouflage tent is required to photograph a Eared Grebe foraging for food or with a chick within an acceptable distance. It is particularly nice to see an adult Eared Grebe feeding its young or even photographing a newly hatched chick that is in mum’s feathers. Sometimes there are two siblings who follow a parent and beg for prey. At first they are tufts of feathers that float on the water like corks. But they quickly get bigger and in a short time they are almost as big as their parents.
On a fine late summer day in mid-July, I was busy searching for a good, low-lying vantage point in a large complex of fish ponds for waterfowl photography. Maybe I could even transport the camouflage tent to this place in order to set it up there. Because of so much time devoted to searching, I didn’t have much time to take photos. A little exhausted, I made my way home in the afternoon. Suddenly I spotted the grebes a few hundred meters from the road. To my delight, I had found a colony of Eared Grebes in an extensively farmed pond quite close to a road.
The Eared Grebe fed the only young exhaustive, then dived again and again between the aquatic plants and at the end took care of his plumage in peace and was not unsettled by the trigger noise on the Canon EOS 1DX Mark III.
In order to meet the growing demand for top images of the rarer species of Palaearctic Bird-lens.com has specifically made trips to remote places. Additionally every chance is used, if a rare bird is around the homeground. This to do everything to ensure excellent photos of the Birds of the Western Palearctic . The results in images also of rare Western Palaearctic birds is very good. There are other nice images of birds, that you will find behind the tab “Picture Shop“. Just give a notice if you need a picture of a bird which is not online.