I haven't been to Golden Gardens in a couple of weeks, but I went there several times at lunch time during December to scope the sound and saw no eared grebes but lots of horned, western and especially red-necked grebes.
Greg Toffic

>>> Eugene Hunn <hunnhome at accessone.com> 01/05 9:32 PM >>>
Indeed! We missed Eared Grebe entirely on the Seattle CBC this year. Very
frustrating, but Shilshole was covered thoroughly on count day to no avail.

Gene Hunn.

At 08:11 AM 1/5/99 -0800, you wrote:
>cametobe wrote:
>"I saw enough EARED GREBES and HORNED GREBES that I got so I could tell the
>difference between them."
>
>Because you're a self-described neophyte, and because Ralph Hoffman (1927)
>cautioned, "Great care must be taken even by a trained observer", I'll mention
>that Horned Grebes far outnumber Eared Grebes on Puget Sound in winter and some
>can look a bit like Eared Grebes until an Eared Grebe shows up. Watch for the
>Eareds slighter build, "giant" head, grayish face, and tiny, "upturned" beak.
>Eareds tend toward fresh water moreso than Horneds.
>
>Of course, you just may have been seeing both. Perhaps Cliff Drake or someone
>else who visits Shilshole/Golden Gardens will chime in. And the Seattle CBC
>results from last weekend might reveal something about the relative abundance
>of Horned and Eared Grebes in the vicinity.
>--
>Scott Richardson
>Olympia, Washington
>salix at halcyon.com
>
>Hoffman, R. 1927. Birds of the Pacific States. The Riverside Press, Cambridge,
>Mass. 353pp.
>An excellent regional guide even now.
>
>
>