Western Grebe

What is the kid saying to its parent?

We are fortunate here in So Cal to have two species of large grebes, Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebe, that provide a variety of different photo ops. First, as part of their courtship they are famous for their “walk on water dance” where both the male and female will attempt to synchronize their movements as they literally walk on water. Second is their antics with their chicks, sometimes allowing the chick(s) to ride on their backs. When I visited the local lake where these were shot, the chicks were out of their “cute” phase and were in the “gangly teenager” phase. In this shot I can only imagine what the chick is saying to its parent. . This shot was taken with the camera held over the side of a boat about 12″ above water level to get a low angle. All of the shots are virtually FF, with little done in processing.