RH Speirs | Photographer - Pied-billed Grebe

Sorry, in advance, this is going to be a bit long-winded. This experience was just such a thrill for me that I thought I'd share it though the photos, and words this time. If you don't like reading, please feel free to just skip over that part..won't hurt my feeling one bit lol. Patience, a bit of previous experience, some common sense, respect, situational strategic planning, putting up with some relatively short-term discomfort (so badly I just wanted to get up, straighten my back, neck, and legs lol) and some good luck/fortune, helped me in achieving one my wildlife photography goals here..some pretty decent photos of a bird species that I personally very rarely encounter. I've been back, several times, to the location where these photos were captured, and this bird species was not there seen or heard there.

On May 23rd I headed down to the Marshall Springs ponds, in Fish Creek Provincial Park, hoping to get some more nice photos of wildlife. Of course I like all birds, and will take pictures of any that come within decent camera range, but on this day there was one particular bird species I had especially in mind..the Horned Grebe. I had seen one on my two previous visits to this location (within a couple of weeks time), but couldn't get close enough for any shots I was satisfied with. Well, the Horned Grebe was not to be found as it must have moved on to somewhere else..disappointing for sure. However, all was not lost, as I did have the good fortune to come across its Grebe cousin, the Pied-billed. For sure it's not as colorful, but every bit as interesting is the Pied-billed Grebe. It, also was on my list of bird species that I'd wanted to get better pictures of for quite some time.

I've only encountered the Pied-billed twice before, both over a year ago, and not at this location..what a pleasant surprise indeed. I learned a couple of things from those previous encounters, and hoped to apply them in this currently unfolding situation. Last time I simply, in plain site, tried to move closer to where the bird was located on the pond. Even though I moved slowly, and in an unthreatening manner, it didn't seem to matter, as these birds are/can be extremely wary..the closer I tried to get, the even further away it would move it seemed.

So, I decided to watch the bird from afar for a while, simply watching its routine. Once I determined where its safe zone on the pond was (where it felt the most comfortable), I only made my moves to get closer in to that spot when the bird was either; submerged in water during a dive, or behind a thick enough patch of plant life that it couldn't see me making my moves when I did. It took quite a while for me to get into the desired position for shooting, as I'd only take maybe five to seven steps at a time before crouching back down, motionless, until the next opportunity to safely move again. I noticed that this bird doesn't dive for as long a period of time as a say a Red-necked Grebe (a bird I have far more experience being around). When I got near my desired shooting location, it was less than ideal, as the surrounding plant life (cattails, reeds) was going to be unavoidable as a part of the foreground within the frame of the photos, but there was a couple of small gaps here and there I could probably work around/with. Factoring this challenge in, I chose my particular spot to settle down in, did so, and remained as motionless as possible until the bird returned to its safe zone, out from behind the thick plant life that was currently between us. With these type of photos I usually try my best to get right down at the subjects level, meaning very low down, as low as physically possible while still being able to operate the camera, and of course right to the waters edge, if possible. Though I could have attempted that here, I just felt it'd be better/safer to stay back a couple of extra feet from the waters edge in this particular situation..no point risking blowing this rare opportunity now. The way things unfolded, I believe that turned out to be the right decision.

Just my opinion here, but if anyone thinks they can creep up on, or be within fairly close proximity to wildlife, without them knowing it, they're just kidding themselves. This bird definitely knew I was there, and right away too. When it came out from behind the thick patch of plant life for the first time, after I had reached, and settled down into, my desired shooting location it looked strait at me. Why it stayed so comfortable with me being there for, what turned out to be, such a long period of time, I think will always be somewhat of a mystery to me. Maybe they just don't mind sometimes, as long as they don't sense that you're getting any closer to them while they're watching, or making any sudden/threatening moves, and I ensured, with my strategic, limited, movements, that it did not see me moving into position. It was definitely uncomfortable for me to be where I was, physically (on my back, neck, and legs), but I just stayed the course and tried to be as still as possible.

More often than not, when it comes to taking pictures of this nature, I will try my best to limit my time spent, within relatively close proximity to the wildlife, to just a few minutes, or just a few photos, whichever comes first.it's just the right thing to do when being around wildlife in nature. It's funny, because I actually felt kind of trapped in this situation, in a way. If you can believe it, the duration of time, from first to last photo, shown within these two galleries (all shown in the order shot), was over the better part of three hours. This bird just seemed so comfortable puttering around right in front of me; calling, grooming, stretching, snoozing. If at any point, I were to make a move, like to leave the area, just because I was done with what I wanted, it would have surely scared the bird, and that's the last thing I ever want to do in this kind of situation. So, I just stayed put, uncomfortably, waiting for an opportunity to leave inconspicuously (of course taking more photos the entire time, may as well). As a direct result of that, I ended up with a very large amount of photos of this encounter, so I decided to share the photos over two separate, extended, galleries. Plus, this is only about half of the somewhat decent photos I actually captured, so if you happen to have a need/desire for a very specific (pose, composition) photo of the Pied-billed Grebe, in high resolution, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

These first two photos (directly above, and below) were shot a bit earlier, from further away, than the rest (before I reached my desired shooting spot), and show some of the plant life (cattails, reeds in acceptable focus) that make up the bird's environment near the edge of the pond (wish I'd thought, at the time, to capture some even wider angled shots, oh well). This is the type of plant life that I had to shoot through/between to capture these photos. I believe they were shot at some point during my staged moves to get to my desired shooting location.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Stretching out the left leg. Notice how far back the leg is positioned on this birds body. Apparently, when in flight, the bird actually uses it's feet as a kind of steering rudder as they extend behind the bird even further than it's tail.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Splashing around a little bit.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Neck all stretched out..the bird looks like this when it's making its call.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Nicely framed, ballenced portrait, good light.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Having a little mini snooze.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Kind of a cute shot here, as it came out from behind some thicker plant life (to the right of the frame). Looks like it's peeking around the corner, checking me out to see if I'm still there. Could just be a coincidence, as the bird is actually captured here during a call, in which it stretches its neck out like that anyway.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Focused on a nearby flying insect. I saw it snap these up, using its bill, if they came in close enough.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Bit of serious, all business like, look on its face here.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Some might not like this look in a photo, and to be honest, I didn't really either at first. The extremely blurred out plant life in the foreground gives the photos a bit of a different feel to them. Now, I actually quite like it myself.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

This next photo, where the bird's wringing itself out, seemed to have struck me a lot I guess. I actually custom tailored the photo (size wise) to make a new wallpaper for my desktop computer from it. Something I very rarely do is change my desktop computer wallpaper.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Lol when I see this birds face, it sometimes makes me think of a turtle.

Pied-billed Grebe, Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - May 23rd

Continue directly on to the second (of two) page/gallery of the Pied-billed Grebe by clicking/tapping here.

Pied-billed Grebe - Calgary, AB

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