Posted on

Chicks, Man

While I was able to capture some nice shots of other spring newborns this year, as usual the most ubiquitous and easy to photograph chicks were Canada Geese. Between April and early June these goslings are just about everywhere around the Bay, as evidenced by the goose pellet landmines strewn along miles of shoreline. When running along the bay trail, I sometimes feel more like a triple-jumper than a jogger.

A Canada gosling eats large quantities of short grass
A Canada gosling eats large quantities of short grass

However, as annoying as these geese can be, you can’t deny the cuteness of their offspring! Here are a group of four heading across the road to (literally) greener pastures.

Four Canada goslings cross over the center yellow line of a road
Four Canada goslings cross over the center yellow line of a road

In all I probably saw about ten different groups (gaggles?) of chicks with precocious trouble makers running off by themselves. Each group was accompanied by at least two adults, and some families would group together with four or five adults and as many as twenty little ones. The watchful parents had their work cut out for them, but all in all, this is a relatively safe environment.

A Canada Goose watches over its chicks as they eat short grass
A Canada Goose watches over its chicks as they eat short grass

It was a pleasure to see the new families partake in a variety of activities, my favorite of which was swimming lessons.

Ever watchful of its chick, a canada goose leads its young out on a still lake
Ever watchful of its chick, a canada goose leads its young out on a still lake

Yes, they poop a lot, make a racket, and get in the way sometimes, but I for one am a fan of the Canada Goose.

Posted on

Amorous Eareds

An eared grebe breeding pair swim close to one another
An eared grebe breeding pair swim close to one another

Recently when I lucked out by capturing four different grebe species in one day at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View, I witnessed something new for me – two eared grebes who had paired up for season were not only showcasing their courtship behavior, but were also mating. I was surprised to see this because usually the grebes head north for the summer before mating, and as a result I had never seen this behavior before.

Their courtship seemed to have several stages of intimacy. First, they swam close to each other across the lake as seen above. Suddenly, they would run side by side across the surface of the water (essentially flying very low over the water) and quickly make it to shore, only to turn around and swim slowly back to their starting location.

Part of the eared grebes courtship display is to fly low across the surface of the water together. Once they land nearby, they swim back to their starting location, and proceed to mimic each other. They repeat this cycle of mimicking and flying together until they (usually) mate.
Part of the eared grebes courtship display is to fly low across the surface of the water together. Once they land nearby, they swim back to their starting location, and proceed to mimic each other. They repeat this cycle of mimicking and flying together until they (usually) mate.

Occasionally, they would attract the attention of an unexpected guest in their over water flight.

Occasionally an additional eared grebe or two join a courting pair as they fly low across the surface of the water.
Occasionally an additional eared grebe or two join a courting pair as they fly low across the surface of the water.

Once they had performed this flight several times, they stayed out toward the middle of the water and proceeded to mimic each other, a behavior seen frequently in other grebe courtship displays.

A mating pair of eared grebes court one another by mimicking each other's movements. Here the rise out of the water belly to belly and synchronize their head movements.
A mating pair of eared grebes court one another by mimicking one another’s movements. Here the rise out of the water belly to belly and synchronize their head movements.

After satisfactorily copying one another, there was no putting off the inevitable. It was time to seal the deal.

A male eared grebe mounts a female from behind and flaps his wings rapidly. The mating lasts only a few seconds.
A male eared grebe mounts a female from behind and flaps his wings rapidly. The mating lasts only a few seconds.

As I said before, I was surprised to see actual mating behavior. I have not heard of eared grebes successfully nesting in the area, so I assume this couple soon headed north for a more traditional breeding season together.

Posted on

Grebes Galore

An eared grebe in breeding plumage swims through calm water.
An eared grebe in breeding plumage swims through calm water.

Lately I’ve been going through my backlog of unprocessed photos, and I happened upon a collection I took one day at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View. A theme of “grebes” jumped out at me right away, as I had captured on camera four of the five common grebe species in the SF Bay Area, within just a few hundred yards of each other, and all in their breeding plumage.

First up were the beautiful eared grebe (above) and the horned grebe (below). At the peak of their breeding plumage, they are quite easy to differentiate, but in their winter colors, it takes a sharp eye to tell the species apart.

A horned grebe dries itself off after bathing by rising out of the water and shaking vigorously from side to side.
A horned grebe dries itself off after bathing by rising out of the water and shaking vigorously from side to side.

As usual, the eared grebes greatly outnumbered the horned grebes, but both species were mingling and fishing together quite happily.

Closer to shore in a sheltered corner of the lake were several pied-billed grebes. While the eared and horned grebes usually migrate north to breed and raise young, many pied-billed grebes raise their chicks in the Bay Area. When they enter their breeding colors, they gain a thick black band around their bill. In the winter, the bill is a solid bone white color.

A pied-billed grebe in breeding plumage swims through calm water
A pied-billed grebe in breeding plumage swims through calm water

Finally, a clark’s grebe made a brief appearance in the lake, most of which seemed to be under water. Clark’s grebes look similar to the region’s last common grebe, the western grebe. Clark’s grebes also migrate north to mate, however a persistent couple has been trying to raise young over the last few years in another location within Shoreline Park. So far, they have been unsuccessful, with either no chick hatching at all, or the newly hatched young dying within days. A successful nesting would be of great interest to the local birding community, as many have kept watch over this pair’s nest over the last couple of years.

A clark's grebe flaps it wings to reshuffle its feathers as part of its preening routine
A clark’s grebe flaps it wings to reshuffle its feathers as part of its preening routine

I was happy at the variety of grebes that day, and that I caught some of these species at just the right time: after they had molted into breeding colors but before the left for their journey north.

Posted on

California State Parks Short Term Fix

Waves crash against sandstone headlands, Salt Point State Park, California
Waves crash against sandstone headlands, Salt Point State Park, California

In honor of the recent good news that nearly all California State Parks that were slated to close yesterday will be saved (at least temporarily), I have created a new portfolio gallery of a selection of images I have creates at CA state parks over the last few years. Please enjoy this small slice of what CA state parks have to offer.

Even with the good news, the long term outlook of the park department is not good. Please show your support by visiting a CA state park this summer, or joining their facebook page.