home + garden
Jim Williams has been watching birds and writing about their antics since before "Gilligan's Island" went into reruns. Join him for his unique insights, his everyday adventures and an open conversation about the birds in your back yard and beyond.
resize text 
find us on Facebook
subscribe via RSS
Western Grebe, Lake Independence
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird biology, Bird identification, Bird sightings Updated: June 3, 2012 - 1:02 PM
Twice on Saturday and again Sunday morning I watched a Western Grebe off the southwestern shore of Lake Independence. The location is almost directly across the lake from Baker Park. Western Grebes are uncommon this far east in Minnesota, not often reported in Hennepin County. This bird was offshore about 200 yards Saturday morning. It was fishing very near the shore Saturday evening, at times no more than 20 feet from shore. Sunday morning it was in the southwestern bay again, perhaps 200 feet from shore. Saturday night I watched the bird catch a sizable perch, big enough to require some effort and time to swallow. Here is a sequence, along with a shot after the sun had set. The large moon Saturday night was nicely reflected in the lake. Standing on the a bridge at that site I waited for the grebe to swim near or into that reflection. That would have been a cool photo. The bird settled down for the night, however, about 30 feet from my dream.
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- Adios Attu
- Wild Turkey embryo
- A good spring here for ibis
- Six goslings and one missing egg
- Watch continues on last goose egg(s)
- Alaska experiencing spectacular birding
- Robin uses deer hair in nest
- Do wrens plan nest design?
- Ticked on
- A Spring of excesses
- Continuing the Attu story
- Can you find the eggs?
- Wounded Sparrow?
- Warblers foraging on ponds
- Oriole jelly feeder -- homemade
- Warbler fallout -- 187+ individuals
- Owls fledging
- Spring ... and then there's that Attu tale
- New field guide to raptors
Post By Category
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Links
- American Birding Assoc.
- Blog: Birding to the edge
- 10,000 Birds: conservation, nature
- Buteo Books
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- eBird
- grrlScientist
- Blog: Laura Erickson
- Blog: Colder by the Lake
- Blog: Minnesota Birdnerd
- MInnesota Ornithologists' Union
- Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
- Blog: Ornitholature
- ARKive
- Better View Desired
- Birdnet
- DNR stewardship tips
- Saint Paul Audubon Society
- Sax-Zim Winter Birding Festival
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters