Red-necked Grebe Nest: April 2021

On a morning of off-and-on rain, I headed to Humber Bay.

The most obvious birds were the hundreds of Cormorants in the sky and in the lake. These are eerie birds as they are completely silent.

Double-crested Cormorants
Double-crested Cormorants
Double-crested Cormorants
Double-crested Cormorants
Double-crested Cormorants
Double-crested Cormorants

MYSTERY BIRD

At the conclusion of the post, I will identify it.

Other birds:

Mourning Dove
Common Grackle
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Song Sparrow
Common Grackle
Long-tailed Duck (female)
Common Grackle
Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal (male)
Song Sparrow
American Robin
Brown-headed Cowbird (female)
American Robin

The swarms of Midges here are good food for the nesting Tree Swallows:

Midges
Tree Swallow
Tree Swallow
Tree Swallow
Tree Swallow
Tree Swallow
Tree Swallows

Humber Bay, Col. Sam Smith Park and Tommy Thompson Park all provide floating nesting platforms for Red-necked Grebes.

Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe

The grebes at Humber bay have constructed a nest of twigs, reeds, aquatic vegetation, bark and even some plastic:

Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe nest

The female Red-necked Grebe lays two to six eggs which hatch in about three weeks.

Grebe chicks have striped heads:

photo: flickr

Both parents care for the young.

The red-necked grebe eats minnows and other small fish, crayfish, tadpoles, salamanders, insects, and aquatic plants.

Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe

MYSTERY BIRD

Gadwalls have a white patch on the rear end of the wing. Males have a black rump as this one does.

Gadwall (male)

NATURE POETRY

Again the blackbirds sing; the streams
Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams,
And tremble in the April showers
The tassels of the maple flowers.        – John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92)

Miles Hearn

1 thought on “Red-necked Grebe Nest: April 2021

  1. Lisa Volkov

    Ah yes, Cormorants–watching wave after wave after wave of them flying over The Spit on the way to roosting, during my many years of hiking it, especially before it was “publicized” and “promoted”. I love them–despite knowing (and I didn’t know about it right away) that there was problem with what their guano did to the trees!
    Thank you so much for bringing us all these wonderful birds and ducks I can no longer see “in the wild” (of the city) just now. I love them all. Thanks, Miles!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *