We had truth be told, taken a trip down to the Jawbone Conservation Park at Williamstown.  One of my Flickr mates  David Nice, had reported a Great Crested Grebe.  As the ponds can give good access to the birds in quite a few places, it seemed like a good idea to have a looksee.

On our day, however, the Great Crested Grebes (there are two there), must have been hunting out in the open water, as not a crest nor a feather were to be found.

As the Jawbone lakes are quiet water, the water birds use the area as a resting spot, and also to get to know one another it seems.

We watched for 15 to 20 minutes a pair of Pied Cormorant that had more than fishing on their mind.

They had been sitting together on a log at the edge of the water, and apart from an occasional call and a little bit of alopreening it was pretty much normal activity. Then another bird came by and they both went into high defence mode.

With the interloper seen off they moved into the grassy area and sat together picking and placing grass around them, and because it was pretty much in the centre of the area, other birds passing by also got the repulse boarders activity.

They then took to the water, both diving and picking some leaves, reeds or sticks out of the mud and them displaying their haul.

After much swimming around each other in circles, they took to doing underwater diving, coming up together and then diving again. Not much of a photo as there was simply empty water. 🙂
I’ve no idea if they are really going to nest in the area, or if the ‘fun’ was just for the ‘fun of it’. The area is a small island and I can’t imagine there being much room for more than a few pairs at nest.

Time I suppose will tell.
Not quite a Great Crested Grebe, but an intriguing insight into the lives of a bird that we normally see just resting in between feeds.