'On Reflection'- Great Crested Grebe

The Great Crested Grebe,  not one of the rarest of Grebes these days, but arguably one of the most spectacular, especially if you can track down a courting pair in full breeding plumage engaged in their courtship rituals, the icing on the cake obviously is to witness the famous 'penguin dance' or weed dance as I know it, the pair rush together, feet frantically paddling until they are upright, chest to chest, flicking beaks full of water weed at each other.

I have only witnessed this once many years ago and very distantly, so this is high on my ' bucket list of wanted photographic opportunities '

February seems to be the best time to try and witness this courtship ritual, just a matter of finding a lake occupied by a breeding pair, not so easy.

I became aware of just such a pair on a fishing lake not too far from where I live. I arrived relatively early in the morning, parked the car and almost immediately could see a pair of Grebes swimming very closely together which looked promising, problem being the sun was directly behind them,
I needed to get to the other side of the lake so the sun was behind me.

I set off around the fishing lake, plenty of other waterfowl on the lakes, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, a single Egyptian Goose, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Pochard, and Mallard, I also came across another pair of Grebes and a single individual, five altogether.

As I approached the lake I could see the two Grebes which had now moved further into a narrow section of the lake, there were a few industrial buildings on the lakeside which were making some nice colourful reflections on the water, the Grebes were obviously happy with each other's company calling to each other occasionally, but no real sign of courtship at first.

I watched these Grebes for sometime before they began to show any ritual signs of courtship, it followed a period of prolonged fishing, the Grebes coming together after preening, no dancing for me but I did witness various courtship mirroring moves.

Even though I did not witness the 'dancing' it was very nice to watch this courting pair. I may try again later to spend some more time watching this pair as they hopefully raise the next generation.

I watched the Grebes fishing and moving through the various reflective water surfaces looking for some different shots.

I spent most of the morning watching these Grebes, mostly at a distance but every now and again swimming quite close. During this time I caught sight of a bonus bird in the form of a Kingfisher, they were particularly interested in a small storm drain which entered the lake, fishing must have been good there because they kept returning. I could only get a distance shot from my position on the other side of the lake although I did manage a sneaky shot through the branches of a lakeside tree as I walked back to my car.

A great mornings bird watching and a definite return is on the cards.