One of the reasons I decided to go to Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge was because I hadn’t managed to get a decent shot of an Eared Grebe so far on my trip, and I had gotten nice shots of them the last two times I was at Tule.
Though most of the grebes I saw were at a considerable distance, this pair were relatively close to the road.
and this one emerged so close to the road that it nearly swam away before I could get the car stopped and my camera focused.
As I turned out, I really didn’t need to rush at all as this grebe seemed to be undisturbed by my presence. He actually hung around, even floating back in my direction.
I didn’t get a lot of shots of Eared Grebes, but I was satisfied with the ones I got since I’ve never gotten an action shot of them (they always dive, not fly, when disturbed). I would love to see them with chicks, but it must have been too early since I saw lots of adults but no chicks.