April 28, 2013 - Horned Grebes
Read MoreOver the last two weeks I made several trips to the Coon Rapids Dam, located in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities metro area. It’s one of the few places that has open water so lots of waterfowl are gathering there, getting ready to migrate north. Here’s one of the more spectacular looking species, a Horned Grebe, in its breeding plumage. Both males and females look alike and they are fairly small, about 14 inches long.
Here’s a Horned Grebe in non-breeding plumage. This photo was taken in Grand Marais, MN, during the month of September. What a change! It looks like a different species. The red eye is consistent, although it gets much brighter during breeding. The mottled gray and white feathers on the sides of the body are replaced with chestnut-colored feathers. Even the color of the bill has changed. But the most dramatic difference is in the feathers on the head.
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