Those Eyes!

 On a recent trip to the Denali highway, we stopped by a small lake and found a pair of horned grebes.

Their eyes will keep you awake at night.

Busy Days

 These are busy times for me.    I've cleaned litter from roughly 25 miles of highway and spent a lot of time at Tern Lake observing the birds.

I'm getting ready to go on my annual birding trip to the Denali Highway.

In the meantime, here's what's happening at Tern Lake.

 

Grebe chicks immediately climb on an adult's back as soon as they hatch.  That is where they will stay for several days.

Each pair of grebes has hatched at least one chick and are still sitting on unhatched eggs.  This grebe just rearranged the eggs.....

..and on her back, a chick wonders what all the movement is about.

It isn't all about birds, though.   This evening a muskrat swam by with a big salad for the family.

Grand-Grebes Arriving Soon

There are two sets of red-necked grebes nesting at Tern Lake this summer.   I can see both nests from the highway.

This photo shows a shift change about to occur on one nest.   Both parents take turns.

They appear to have five eggs.

It takes a while for the adult to fluff up those breast feathers and settle on the eggs.

This photo was taken in the golden light of late evening when the breast feathers looked like burnished copper.