Pied-Billed Grebes! (and Empty Eagle's Nest)

I went down to Manasquan Reservoir in Howell this afternoon. It was the first day of daylight savings time and the weather cooperated beautifully. But the eagles didn't. They were nowhere to be seen. No young have hatched this year, so I suppose there's not a lot of incentive for them to hang around the nest. The thinking is that the new female is still rather immature and she may have lacked the experience to look after the eggs properly.

While waiting in vain for one or other of them to appear, I noticed a duck-like bird on the water quite close-by. I was struck by how long it was spending under the water each time it dived, so I elected to take some pictures. I had both C-8 adaptors on the front of the camera for this shot -- I was, of course, prepared to take eagle shots from a great distance -- so I'm rather pleased at just how good a shot it is:



That's the male bird. Later, with just one C-8 on the front of the camera, I was able to get this picture of the female:



For the record, the eagle's nest is very easy to see at this time of year, with most of the trees not yet covered in foliage. Here's a shot from the causeway with just one C-8 on the front: