Dancing with the Grebes
Courtesy US FWS
Dave Menke, Photographer
These two Mallard-sized grebes look nearly identical, with long white necks like a swan’s and lance-shaped bills like a heron’s. They differ subtly in the color of that bill and the extent of their black caps. What is most striking about western and Clark’s grebes is not their dapper appearance but their exuberant courtship dance. Like Snoopy dancing beside his mirror image, a pair of birds will tread furiously across the water surface, enabling them to rise upright with their necks stretched forward. After skittering ahead for 20 feet or more, the couple abruptly pitches forward and dives beneath the surface.
On our lakes and marshes, these two species of grebes today make the biggest splash on their watery dance floor. Just a century ago, they were hunted to near extinction for feathers to adorn womens’ hats. Happily, conservation trumped fashion, and populations of both species have largely recovered. Can any North American waterfowl match the vigor of this foot-churning courtship display? You be the judge. Pull up a lakeside seat, and with a little luck, you will be in the audience when they dance their splashy quick-steps to the primordial cadence of spring.
Credits:
Photo: Courtesy US FWS, Dave Menke Photographer
Text: Bridgerland Audubon Society: Jim Cane Bridgerland Audubon Society
Voice: Richard (Dick) Hurren, Bridgerland Audubon Society
For More Information:
Check out Grebe Video on Google
Western Grebe Identification, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Grebe/id
Clark’s Grebe Identification, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clarks_Grebe/id
Western Grebe, Guide to North American Birds, Audubon, https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/western-grebe
Clark’s Grebe, Guide to North American Birds, Audubon, https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/clarks-grebe
Western Grebe, Birds of the World, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/wesgre/cur/introduction
Clark’s Grebe, Birds of the World, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/clagre/cur/introduction
Western Grebe, UtahBirds.org, https://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/ProfilesS-Z/WesternGrebe.htm
Clark’s Grebe, UtahBirds.org, https://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/Profiles/ClarksGrebe.htm
Dancing with the Grebes by Jim Cane
The Bear Facts Old Ephraim
Twelve miles up the Logan Canyon in the Bear River Range of the Wasatch Mountains is the grave of Old Ephraim, the last grizzly bear seen in Utah. He was trapped and shot in 1923 by Frank Clark, a sheepherder from Malad. Clark, an animal lover–except for bears–doggedly tracked Old Ephraim for 10 years during which the grizzly poached local sheep with impunity.
The name “grizzly” is based on the fact that bears in North America’s interior have hairs with white tips, resulting in a “grizzled” appearance. Many think the grizzly is a separate species, but in fact, the brown bears of North America, Northern Asia and Europe are all local variations of the same species–Ursus arctos. Brizzly, Kodiak, Manchurian, and Siberian brown bears may differ in size and color, but they all share a characteristic shoulder hump, a dished face and extra long claws so good for digging.
Old Ephraim was said to be a “giant grizzly”, weighing in at around 1,100 pounds. Such a weight would be unremarkable for a costal Alaskan brown bear, which can reach up to 1,500 pounds. But, because of their more limited food supply, interior brown bears, such as Old Ephraim, usually range between 225 and 670 pounds. Thus, it is very likely that the 1,100 pound figure might just be the product of good storytelling.
Today, you may visit Utah’s most famous brown bear in two different places. Old Ephraim’s skull is on display in the Tanner Reading Room of Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier library in Logan. But maybe the best way to pay your respects to this Utah celebrity is to hike to his old stomping grounds northeast of Logan. His grave is six miles up the right-hand fork of the Logan river. A large stone monument, built by the Boy Scouts in 1966 lies near the 1923 gravesite.
The Bear Facts Old Ephraim-Credits:
Photo: Courtesy https://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/ephriam.htm, Copyright 2001 Bruce Argyle, Photographer
Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand, Jim Akers, Jeannie Huenemann
Additional Reading
IUCN Bear Specialist Group Assessment: https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details/41688.pdf
Old Ephraim’s Grave, Utah.com https://www.utah.com/bike/trails/old_ephraims.htm
Boling, Josh, Old Ephraim, The Infamous Northern Utah Grizzly, Wild About Utah, August 7, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/old-ephraim-the-infamous-northern-utah-grizzly/
Greene, Jack, Bears, Wild About Utah, October 22, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/bears/