Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Several friends and I got together to go out Lake San Antonio to see if we could spot and photograph Grebes doing their mating dance. On the way we stopped at a little country store for lunch. We ate out on the deck. It was such a fine day. They have a good Meatball sandwich I’m told by my friends. They make homemade pies, unfortunately they didn’t sell it by the slice so I didn’t try any. On the wall of the store is a vintage sign I got a kick out of. It says, ” Coffee. You can sleep when you’re dead.”

Out in the parking tucked away on the side there are a couple of posing stations with silly backboards.  I couldn’t pass up

posing in one.

My friend Tj managed to get photos of us all which you can see if you go to her facebook page here:

After lunch we continued down the road to the South Shore of San Antonio Lake.  I have never seen Grebes doing their mating dance before. I was really hoping we’d see it, and photograph it.  When we first arrived at the South Shore we saw a lot of Grebes. While looking for a potential spot to set up down on the shore we heard the Grebes talking then they started to sing. Alex who has seen them do this dance before said, “They’re singing, they’ll bob their heads, oh, they’re going to do it!” As he was talking we all grabbed our cameras and turned out heads to this pair.

Yes! Up they came out of the water with their heads straight up doing their dance. They didn’t dance very long. Just a second or two. I was snapping away hoping I got something. They were so far away that this is the best shot I have.
As it happens this is only pair we saw doing the mating dance. They are shy and elusive birds.
Whenever we would set up on shore they would move to the other side of the lake.

I’m not sure if that’s a male or female on the right observing, but I kept it in the frame because I liked the diagonal line, and the way it was watching the dance too.

We drove to North Shore hoping for better results, or if not spot some birds of prey.
I did see a Red Tail Hawk, but unfortunately he was too far away for me to get a clean shot with my 70-300mm lens. Dali got a good shot as he was only one of us with a big lens. He rented the 600mm. It weighs 11 pounds!

We spent a lot of time waiting around for the birds to settle down and hopefully come a little closer to our side of the shore.

Alex was pensive,

…and Tj and Rainey decide to take a walk and have some girl-time,

We spent the rest of the day on the North shore, and decided to wait for sunset. That was was worth waiting for! It was gorgeous.

The sunset looking south,

…and the piece de resistance,

The afterglow of a wonderful sunset.  (facing east)

While we only saw one pair of Grebes doing their mating dance the day was not spent in vain. The scenery was beautiful, the day was fine, and the company as my French friends would say, “etait aux petits oignons!”

Nikon D300s| Nikkor70-300mmVR @ 300mm| f5.6| 1/1000 sec| ISO 250| Aperture Priority| Hand-Held

Translation-
Aux petits oignons- first rate (literal translation- from little onions)