-- [ From: Conrad W. Selfors * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] --

Hey Tweeters: Yesterday, while sailing near Port Orchard onboard the
Brig, Lady Washington with my good friend Captain Ralph Hammersbor, I
noted that the Red Necked Grebes are starting to show their red necks
quite smartly, and the Pelagic Cormorants have the white rump feather
color fairly well established. But the thought entered my mind that I
never see the Western Grebes eating. I have around 300 hundred of
these WG that hang out infront of my home all winter. They are
normally in a fairly tight group. I see them with their bill tucked
under their wing or preening and maneuvering back and forth in their
flock but never diving or feeding. I've been watching them from my
front yard which is about 110 feet above sea level and these birds just
kind
of float back and forth with the tide or move a little North or South
depending on the wind. What's the deal??? Possibility #1: A few slip
out of the group and go feeding and I don't notice them coming and
going???? Possibility #2 They have been living off body fat all
winter????? Possibility#3 They feed at night when small bait fish come
closer to the surface?? Possibilty #4 { Your correct answer. } Can
anyone shed some light as to what time of the day the WG like to feed?
All the other sea birds, ducks, gulls, what ever, seem to be feeding or
searching for food most of the time.

I have to go back to Minneapolis to do another Sportsmen's Trade
Show the last of March and the first week of April. Are there any
Tweeters from that area that could advise me about birding in that area
at that time of year???? I have only been to that part of the country
once and got lost in the Chicago airport when I was on my way down to
Mobile to pick up a crab boat.

Any Tweeter out there that is looking for a furnished house to
lease for 5-6 months starting middle of April or 1st of May ,here on
Bainbridge Island, E-mail me privately for details. I'll be gone to
Alaska.
By the way, A T & T is offering 5 free hours online a month for a
year to any of its customers so it looks like I'll be sighing off
Prodigy. I just sent away for their soft ware. Don"t know the details
other then that. ph # 1 800 962 5363
Thanks for any help to these questions.
Best Regards, Captain Cormorant, Conrad Selfors
ps 2 male Rufous Hummers arrived on 3-7-96. I have many Rhodys
in bloom.