Psilos Bird Photography

Grebes in love

A study of courtship and mating
 
It is mid February and the Great crested grebes at the local lodge are gearing up for nesting. That may sound familiar for it is the opening sentance of the grebes in conflict feature. Indeed this study features those same grebes. But this tale is not about their struggle for supremacy but a gentler tale of grebe bonding and courtship. The photo above shows how the grebes display to one another. Coming towards one another with much growling they turn their heads from side to side in unison almost like clockwork. They do this frequantly, almost everytime they come together. At the beginning of bonding the male also offers the female a gift of weed but sadly I did not capture this on film.
 
 
One thing that puzzled me greatly was the choice of nest site. Two pairs battled for ownership of this nest and I couldnt help but wonder why? This nest is totally exposed on a mud flat and as can be seen from the photograph is totally vulnerable to attack from gulls or herons. There are several other nests around within dense vegetationthat I thought would be far more suitable.
 
 
Prior to mating the female lays in the nest with her body stretched out and her head lowered in submission. The male approaches slowly from behind but does not mount straight away. Instead he goes through several minutes of turning his head in a similar way to the courtship dance and swimming from side to side.
 

 
When the male does eventually mount the female it is a precarious business and keeping his balance is paramount. The photo above shows a successful attempt at mating but more than once I watched the male climb up and promptly fall off to lie in a heap next to the female in the nest.
 
 
After successful mating the male climbs down and proceeds to swim round and round with his neck stretched and his head held high as if showing the world what a clever bird he had been!
 
 
Then the male returns to the nest and offers the female a gift of weed for the nest. The female doesnt seem all that impressed though and carries on nest building herself. I dont know how many times the grebes will mate before all the eggs are laid but whilst I was there they mated four times within three hours. A week later a cold front moved in and the lake was frozen solid so for the time being the grebes had to abandon the nest. The grebes nest very successfully on this lake with several pairs usually rearing offspring, and so Im sure as soon as the ice is melted they will be back.