Patience rewarded

Great Crested Grebes are one of those birds that you see a lot of photographs of. So you would think that they are relatively easy to get shots of. Well on lakes and reservoirs where they are used to people, they are. However, if you have them somewhere where they hardly see a human being, that is a different matter, as I was to find out. I have access to a private irrigation reservoir on a farm. Ever year, one or sometimes two pairs of Great Crested Grebes nest there. They are however normally well tucked away in the marginal vegetation and too far out to get good clear shots of.

This year though, one pair had nested in a good position for photography. They were in a open gap and because the farm had already stared irrigating, the water level was low enough to put up a hide to photograph them from down the bank. This I did. I showed myself at a distance on the bank so the female had plenty of time to cover the eggs and slip off the nest. As soon as both birds were out of sight behind some trees, I quickly put up a simple net hide on two poles against a Willow Tree.

I left them for a couple of days to get used to the hide and then returned. Again the same procedure. I showed myself, waited untill they were out of sight and then quickly got into the hide unseen. Within ten minutes both birds were back. I wanted to get a shot of the female on the nest with the eggs. She would not however get back onto the nest. There was something she was suspicious of. I knew she could not see me, and to prove it I had a Heron come and stalk right along in front of me not six feet away, and that never saw me!

For the next two and a half hours both birds would come back and after about five minutes go off again. They would even sometimes do some nest tidying with fresh weeds that they would dive for. It was a good warm day so the eggs were in no danger of chilling, but for me two and a half hours was long enough for her to be off the nest. The welfare of the subject is much, much more important than any picture. So once again, when they were both out of sight I left, though I made sure that they saw me on top of the bank so they could see me walking away.

I knew that both birds had not seen me in the hide, so for a while I was puzzled as to why they were so wary. I had left the hide for them to get used to, and indeed they had. The only thing that I could think of was with the keen eyesight that they possess, the female could see my lense or maybe a reflection. With this in mind I decided to move my hide. I moved it to the top of the bank but kept it low so I had to crawl over the bank and up behind the hide.

I left it for about an hour and then went back to the reservoir. I did not go straight back to the hide though. First I went to the other end of the reservoir and with the binoculars started to search the water for the pair of grebes. I could not see them so guessed that they were back at the nest and the female was again sitting. Back to the hide. As I crawled up behind the netting, I could see both birds but the female was not on the nest. And so for the next hour and a half the same thing would happen. They would come back to the nest for about five minutes and then swim off again for about five minutes!

Three times she looked as though she may jump back up onto the eggs. It was at the third time, just as I was thinking I should slip away, that she finally did get back on the nest! After a total of nearly five hours, I took my first shot and over the next couple of visits, I was to take a lot more getting some really pleasing shots of both birds as the female sat tight and the male stood guard out on the water. I could now easily crawl up to the netting without either bird being aware I was there. Then things changed.

I crawled up to the netting as usual and peeked through. Straight away I could see a difference. The female was on the nest but looked a lot more puffed up. The nest itself looked a lot more flattened. My suspicions were soon proved right as a chick suddenly poked its head out from between her wings. The eggs had hatched! On that visit and the next two or three, I was able to watch with amazement at how the female could use such a dagger like beak with such tenderness and care as she tended to the young. A couple of times I watched her as she fed feathers to the young on her back. This they do for roughage to aid digestion.

Due to the weather and work commitments I was unable to get back to the nest for a few days and when I did I found it flattened and deserted. The young were now old enough to be out with the parents on the water and that is where they were. I wasn't disappointed though. Although it had taken nearly five hours to take the first photo, I had since taken many more and had been captivated in times between photos, by just being there and being able to watch these rather special birds.