Eared grebe - a bird I don't see very often

Eared grebe on Neale Lake, Saskatchewan, near Lloydminster.

I don't see these birds very often.  I was surprised to see two of them yesterday while visiting some water bodies just east of Lloydminster where I am staying.  Their dark feathering combined with their contrasting "ears" (cranial tuffs of feathers) and stark red eyes makes them visually engaging.  Yet, I have never managed to get a really good shot of one, little lone one with chicks.

Eared grebes do not adhere to my understanding of what grebes do.  These guys tend to live in brackish waters, with or without fish, and feed mostly on invertebrates.  They prefer shallow waters where they may just dip their heads under the surface or dive to the bottom where they peck at any invertebrates they can find.  That certainly does not fit into the behaviours I see with red-necked grebes and western grebes.

One of the reasons I don't see much of them is because they tend to live on the prairies where they nest in lakes devoid of trees.  There are some places in the Okanagan where I live that they may reside at, but I have never seen one.  All the same, I find them remarkable birds, not just because of their appearance, but also because of their unique lifestyle and mating behaviours.  A bonded pair will have undergone mating rituals similar to the western grebe.  Now that I would like to see.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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