This summer at Lake Apopka, I’ve been keeping an eye on a far-off lump of dirt.  It’s positioned far off in the marsh, behind several layers of vegetation.  You have to position yourself carefully in one specific location to get a semi-obstructed view of this little island floating on the water.  Why the interest in this particular location?  Well, it’s a third Pied-billed Grebe nest!

I first noticed the nest on July 1.  This is a highly cropped image taken with the Beast and a 2x teleconverter.  I checked on the nest with each subsequent visit.

On July 2, I spotted two tiny babies sitting on the nest under Mom’s tummy. You could hear their tiny peep-peep-peeps clearly all the way across the water.  But the intriguing thing was that Mom continued to incubate, and before I left, I saw her turning some additional eggs…

On July 4, there were additional babies wiggling on the nest.  It was hard to get a clear picture, but there are clearly four little heads sticking out from under Mom.  She had her hands full with that family!

The nest was empty on my following visits.  I spotted the birds nearby, but they quickly found ways to hide in the dense vegetation.  I keep hearing them, though, so I know they are doing well.  It’s been such fun following the grebe families on the wildlife drive this summer. :)