Pied Billed Grebe, Hollingworth Lake - 13th November 2010

Like most birders not only from the North West but from across the country I made my way up to Hollingworth Lake near Rochdale to see its current resident.

It was Reeces first ‘mega’ and we weren’t disappointed as it gave good views as it preened close to the hide in the mid afternoon sunshine. Our only disappointment was sevral of our fellow birders whom equipped with lenses the size of rocket launchers made their way to the front even climbing over fences to set their equipment up. Now put me straight if I’m wrong but these monstrosities enable the ‘photographer’ to photograph the subject at distance, so the question is why do they need to get so bloody close? I dodged between bobbing heads with my 300mm lens, hand held struggling to even get a few reasonable record shots. Luckily not all birders are the same and a kind chap took grate interest in Reece trying to get some shots and even offered the use of his scope and to you I offer my thanks. Reece did manage some good shots and I’m sure they will appear on his blog soon enough.
To pose more questions what will happen to this bird now? After being blown so far off course, will it ever make its way back home? Although it does look healthy and is feeding well, with a wingspan of about 50 cm and a body length of about 35 cm I very much doubt it which would be a shame for such a stunning looking Grebe, but as some would say ‘that’s nature for you’.




3 comments:

Stuart Price said...

I heard about this on another blog, sems like there are lots of rarities around the region, hope some of them stick arpund another month or so for when i come back for a visit.............

Robs Birding said...

Hi Derek , its seems to be the trend these days as regards getting to close , sadly i have seen this on numerous occasions , still well done on seeing and getting decent photos of this amazing bird .

Derek Gallagher said...

Stu - there seems to be a lot of good birds around in the NW at the moment. I hope some hang around for your visit if only so I can get chance to get out and see them myself.

Robin - Thanks, yes agree more and more birders spoil it for others by trying to get to close.