This is the third of a series about Red-necked Grebe courting behavior.

Ater their dance, the pair made their way to the shore and and consumated their nuptials.

I hope to get future shots of nesting, feeding the hatchlings, and the chicks riding on their parent's backs.

Beaumaris Lake. Edmonton, Alberta.

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I made a trek to a Lek early this morning and despite it being rather frosty, the birds showed up in numbers.
Southeast of Wainwright, Alberta.

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Rare hummingbird turns Glendora family’s new yard into tourist attraction. Butterflies, grasshoppers and other creatures also come around since they traded grass for less thirsty native landscape. But only ‘BB’ has a fan club.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune
By BROOKE STAGGS
February 28, 2024

Over the past few weeks, a couple hundred people have flocked from Northern California, Arizona and everywhere in between to stake out a quiet neighborhood in Glendora.
They come bearing binoculars, telephoto lenses, and a shared mission: To catch sight of “BB.”
That’s the name birders have bestowed on an elusive broad-billed hummingbird that is now calling Kristin Joseph’s flower-filled front yard, home.
He might not be quite as eye-popping as the snowy owl that captivated people for several weeks in January of 2023 after it veered off course and nested in north Orange County. But since BB’s variety of petite, fast-flying hummingbirds are usually only found in the canyons and woodlands of Mexico and southern Arizona, not Glendora, they can be tricky for local enthusiasts to check off their birding bucket lists.
“This is one that you don’t typically get to see in our area,” said Evelyn Serrano, director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park in Montecito Heights.
Joseph credits the fact that she and her husband have spent the past couple of years converting their yard into a paradise for pollinators. And while BB is definitely their most famous guest to date, she said they’ve enjoyed a steady parade of new visitors ever since they traded their thirsty lawn for drought-tolerant native plants.
“We’ve gotten so many new different species of butterflies. We’ve had grasshoppers, which I hadn’t seen in years. I had praying mantises, which I had not ever had,” Joseph said. “And I have a plethora of birds in my yard all day long.”
With BB, Joseph said she heard the difference even before she could see it.
As an amateur birder, she always pays attention to the visitors that wing through her yard. So when she noticed a bird humming an original tune, distinct from the familiar song she hears whenever Anna’s variety hummingbirds drop in for a drink, Joseph grabbed her binoculars.
The tiny bird’s bright red beak was the next clue. Joseph’s birding books told her she was looking at a broad-billed hummingbird, and, based on its coloring, very likely a male. So, two weeks ago, she logged the sighting on eBird, a popular online database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Someone from the lab contacted her, asking for pictures to verify the sighting. She loaded two photos on the site Feb. 11 and said people quickly began reaching out to ask if they could come see BB’s red beak, dark tail and iridescent body for themselves.
Since then, dozens of photos of BB sipping on native plant nectar in Joseph’s yard have been uploaded to the eBird site.
“It’s just been the nicest group of people,” Joseph said. “Someone left a whole thing of sugar on my porch to make more hummingbird food. A few people have left gift cards and thank you notes. They have just been so thrilled to see this bird.”
One woman told Joseph she was supposed to go with a group to Arizona to try to see a broad-billed hummingbird recently but missed the trip because she was sick. So when she heard about BB sightings not far from where she lives, Joseph said she showed up wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a picture of a hummingbird.
“They’ve been very respectful and very happy to see that I had transformed my yard, because it’s kind of like a little habitat.”

www.sgvtribune.com/

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Circling in formation, looking for a place to land in the Minnesota River Valley. It always amazes me that such large black and white birds can suddenly disappear by changing direction in the sky.

Tags:   Minnesota Minnesota River Valley 'White Pelicans

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Podiceps cristatus

Un grand merci à toutes et tous pour vos visites, favoris et commentaires.

Thank you so much for viewing, faving, commenting my images

Tags:   Animal Bird Great crested grebe Grèbe huppé Krafft Nature Nikkor Z 800mm F/6.3 PF VR Nikon z9 Observatoire ONCFS Oiseau Plan d'eau de Plobsheim Podiceps cristatus Sommerley Wildlife

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