Great Crested Grebe Breeding Season

My camera skills lay in still photography, but I did film this little clip of the precursor to the elaborate courtship dance. This occurs typically around March to May. 

Let me set the scene for you. Imagine a serene lake, the water glistening under the warm sun, and these majestic birds gliding across the surface with their striking black and chestnut head feathers. It was like witnessing a mesmerizing dance, as they presented each other with gifts of water weed and showed off their fancy breeding plumage.

In winter, when we see these birds on Grafham Water, their feathers are mostly black and white.

I took this bird's picture from a hide at Rutland Water. The hide let me get up close, giving a much better view of the beautiful head and neck decorations.

The Great Crested Grebes nest

But the real magic happened when they started building their nest. I found the perfect spot to observe them from a respectful distance. They carried twigs and weeds across the water and built a floating platform anchored to vegetation. Before long, those precious eggs were laid.

I counted 5 eggs in the nest, which was a little unusual as the books told me that they tend to lay 3-4.

My Photography Gear

I was using a 400mm prime lens with a 1.4x extender on my Canon 7D Mark 2. I set up my tripod to keep the camera steady as I found handholding this combination tricky.

I have now changed to using a Canon R5 mirrorless camera and lens combo which is much lighter.

As the weeks passed, I witnessed the tireless efforts of the parent grebes, taking turns sitting on the eggs and diving for fish. 

It was like a perfectly choreographed routine, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for their dedication.

And then, the moment I'd been waiting for – three eggs hatched! Those tiny, striped chicks snuggled up to their parents' feathers, and I swear, my heart melted.

If you look closely at the photograph below, you can just make out their striped little heads peeking out.

The parent birds were hard at work, constantly fishing and feeding their hungry babies. For hours, I stood there, mesmerised and I was fortunate enough to witness several successful catches.

Great crested grebes eat mainly fish but will also feed on aquatic invertebrates.

I also saw the parent birds feeding their own feathers to the babies. After researching this, it seems this helps with their digestion. 

The following photo is an extreme crop (so a little grainy because of the high ISO necessary) showing meal time for one chick. What a precious moment! 

Although tiny, those little bills could swallow surprisingly big fish.

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Nature can be harsh, and sadly, one of the chicks didn't make it.

But the two survivors thrived, growing bigger and stronger with each passing day.

Day by day, the adult birds left them alone as they went fishing, using their sharp, pink bills like daggers to catch their prey.

The babies still tried to catch a ride, even though they were getting too big now!

I'll never forget the hilarious sight of those chubby babies begging for food with their piping calls, their little bottoms up in the air and legs paddling furiously.

Do you see how far back on their bodies those legs are? This makes them very clumsy looking when on land. 

The stripes faded from their bodies. But they stayed on their heads and necks.

As the Great Crested Grebe grows up, it still has the striped head for its first winter. I took this picture of a young one in October. It will take two years before it can breed.