Teri and I took a quick trip over Wolf Creek Pass to visit Pagosa Springs and the surrounding area. And we found out where most of the Texans travelling though Alamosa and Monte Vista are headed. Wow was it busy over there!!
We did manage to find a quiet little pond that had some Western Grebes swimming on it. These are large grebes (compared to Pied-billed and Eared) that have a striking black and white coloration.
As we watched this couple feeding, Teri noticed that something seemed odd with one of the pair. The bird on the left seemed a little "lumpy" on its back.
Sure enough, on closer inspection we saw that a baby was riding on Mom's back. At times it would sit down so low as to be unnoticeable, but then would sit up a little taller for a look around.
As we looked closer, we noticed that several of the birds had babies on their backs. Occasionally the babies would jump off and swim around a bit, but for the most part they seemed to prefer the free ride!!
Mark
I've never seen grebes or loons chicks riding on their mama's backs.... how I envy you! Bill's grandfather used to go to Pagosa Springs to soak in the hot springs.... and Bill has this horror story about traveling through Wolf Creek's Pass on a Thanksgiving holiday..... You sure are in a beautiful area!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice photo of the grebe on the back of mama.
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