Least Grebe Chick

[Bill Dix]

From Estero Llano Grande last week. This juvie was too young to know how to dive. Each time the parent surfaced after a dive, the chick would open its beak as if looking for food, but each time, the parent swam away without feeding it. Perhaps the parent was unable to come up with some food. Another interesting note: I watched the two of them for some time. I noticed that both of them, but especially the chick, stayed very close to one or another of the ducks in the pond. Sometimes it picked a Gadwall, sometimes a Teal; but it was always within a foot or two. I suppose this is a defensive move, since the tiny Grebe would be easy picking for a raptor. The light was very dim under a heavy overcast sky.

D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 3200, 1/320s @ f/7.1 manual. Fill at -2.0. (I used the flash without the Beamer, since my Fresnel lens blew into a mesquite thicket the day before and was irretrievable.)

[Isaac Grant]

Sweet little guy. Great pose. I think it is a little over sharpened as the feathers are a little crunchy. I always struggle a bit with that on these high ISO images where NR is applied.

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Bill, a lovely scene with this youngster against the dull looking water helping focus attention on the bird nicely. I like the open beak and can almost hear it begging. Your rendering of tone and colour looks good, especially given the difficult light and high ISO (flash helped, I'm sure). I think the detail has suffered from the circumstances though. I don't know if you cropped much to get this but that may be part of it? Still a nice frame and I'm sure an enjoyable encounter.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice use of fill flash in tough, low light conditions. Going to a higher AF point would have enabled you to complete the reflection on the bottom.

with love, arite

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a cutie, Bill. Great behavioral story, love the calling to parent pose, and nice flash fill under the conditions. I agree it does look a tad crunchy as if it was a large crop.

Geoffrey




https://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (https://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Bill Dix]

Thanks for looking, everyone. I'm not really seeing much crunchiness - well, maybe a little on a few feathers. And it was not an especially large crop. This is 65% of full width. But I agree the IQ is less than ideal. I'm attributing that to the high ISO and slow shutter speed under difficult light.