Grebes just wanna have fun
There were a couple dozen Pied-billed grebes in this pool in a lazy lowland stream, defying the general description of them as eschewing congregation.
There was a great deal of standing up and fluttering of the wings going on, but more interesting was that periodically, one or two, staging usually in an alcove on the back edge of the pool, would head out in a spirited and splashy running-on-the-water display.
None of this carrying on corresponds to descriptions of their courtship (minuet-like, not like this) or their behaviors otherwise that I can find. Perhaps this was a setting up of the pecking order for the pre-season polls.
Educated comment is most welcome. Whatever was going on, my inclination is that this was somehow celebratory, and enjoyed by all.
Grebes just wanna have fun
There were a couple dozen Pied-billed grebes in this pool in a lazy lowland stream, defying the general description of them as eschewing congregation.
There was a great deal of standing up and fluttering of the wings going on, but more interesting was that periodically, one or two, staging usually in an alcove on the back edge of the pool, would head out in a spirited and splashy running-on-the-water display.
None of this carrying on corresponds to descriptions of their courtship (minuet-like, not like this) or their behaviors otherwise that I can find. Perhaps this was a setting up of the pecking order for the pre-season polls.
Educated comment is most welcome. Whatever was going on, my inclination is that this was somehow celebratory, and enjoyed by all.