Pied-billed Grebe at Garret Mountain

On September 23rd I decided to head to Garret Mountain Reservation in Clifton, NJ.  A quick ride on I-80.  I had heard that is one of the best places to view the spring warbler migration.  It is reported that 32 warblers species were seen one particular spring on one day!  I decided to test my luck out for fall migrants.

In my last post I highlight most of the warblers and other passerines I saw from this trip.  One of the other highlights was a Pied-billed Grebe on Barbour Pond, which is in the SW quadrant of the park.  I snuck up on this guy and despite him seeing me I was able to get really close. He was too busy hunting for small aquatic creatures to care about me.  I noticed that he would submerge his head and then two ripples of water would thrust up on each side.  These ripples were reaching around a foot in the air!  My guess is that they were caused by him dunking his two tiny webbed feet.  Perhaps this causes enough disturbance to release food hiding or stuck in the aquatic plants.  A few shots from this scene.

Looking forward to October and the arrival of the ducks!