Courting display of great crested grebes

Dear all,

I had a wonderful day at Herdsman Lake this morning. And the highlight of the day is definitely watching the courting dance of a pair of great crested grebes. I only knew that it is a courting dance after I came home and read up on the Net.

1. First, these birds came close and kept turning their heads from side to side. Basically I will describe it as "when you look right, I will look left" and vice versa.

2. Suddenly, they just looked like they decided to go the opposite ways! And shortly after they just dived down and disappeared from view.

3. And when I thought the show was over, they surfaced and swam very rapidly towards each other.

4. And the next moment, just when I thought they might run into each other or knock each other unconsicous, they rose from the surface and stood chest to chest for something like 10-15 seconds. It was then that I noticed their beaks were full of grass/weeds.

Looking at the photos, the birds probably have been rotating a bit. For your information, I was too stunned to even move, so the photos were taken from the same direction.

By the way, after the courting dance, they just returned to their normal way and swam away. I thought Ok, now they would go and have a little fun. But shortly after, they parted way. I have no idea what they were thinking!

Cheers,
Chai