The beautiful Western Grebes: I made the first of several trips to the Boise, Idaho area. With the wonderful assistance of Cheryl Huizinga, I was able to find Western Grebes in Lake Lowell. I spent about 9 hours on April 18th in my kayak photographing the amazing courtship of these birds.

Step one is mutual grooming. They will do this for hours. If you look closely, you will see that there are two birds in this photo: The next part of their courtship is for one of the pair to catch a fish: They then present it to their partner. The "receiving" bird always is in a crouched position: If all goes well, they then transfer the fish to the "receiving" bird: I watched one pair of birds do this fish sharing for several hours. My theory is that 1) the birds just completed a 1000 mile migration and they need to build back up their strength. 2) Each bird needs to prove that it is a good provider. They will be raising chicks together and will need a lot of fish. The last part of the courtship involves the pair running on top of the water side by side. I did not get any photos of that, but I think that this phase of the courtship comes after the birds have regained their strength. Maybe I will get to see it on my return trip.