Little Grebe

This is a young Little Grebe, he or she is more 'fluffy' looking and not as slick backed as my parent Little Grebe posting. This little one does not yet have that very distinctive beak marking, but the intense staring eyes as you can see are present. I love the sound these Grebes make it's very loud and rather sorrowful, but very distinctive.  Grebes are one of the most frustrating birds to photograph because one minute you've lined up a gorgeous shot to be proud of and the next thing you know is that your subject has completely disappeared under the water! Plus you never know where they are going to 'pop' up again. They seem to spend huge amounts of their day swimming under water in search of their prey (mainly small fish) and the rest chasing off and fighting with other Grebes over fishing rights! They are very entertaining to watch and in Qurum Park there is a population explosion (almost) of these pretty but frustrating little birds!