Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)

A delightfully elegant water bird with ornate head plumes which led to its being hunted for its feathers, almost leading to its extermination from the UK. They dive to feed and also to escape, preferring this to flying. On land they are clumsy because their feet are placed so far back on their bodies. They have an elaborate courtship display in which they rise out of the water and shake their heads. Very young grebes often ride on their parents' backs.

The birds chose to nest on a reservoir in Weardale Co. Durham, unfortunately due to the water levels dropping each year, they have never managed to hatch their eggs for the past few years. I took the photographs from a boat early morning, the birds were not upset by the boat at all and swam very close to it on their approach to their nest. Each time they left the nest the bird carefully covered the eggs in damp vegetation to hide them from prying eyes and also to retain their temperature.

The middle image shows the early stages of the water levels reducing, already the nest is high above the water level. I saw that even at this stage the birds were struggling to climb back onto the nest. Within two weeks the water had dropped sufficiently for the birds to abandon the eggs, although they remained on the reservoir for another few weeks after this.

Finally the bottom image shows the bird displaying its crest. Each time the bird returned to the nest it would plump up its feathers and display its crest, before finally settling down on its eggs.

Pentax *ist D Sigma 70 - 300mm lens.