Two of us have been monitoring a PBGR nest at Phantom Lake in the Lake Hills
Greenbelt of Bellevue. We first found the nest on June 10 and have been
checking on it at least once a day. They are still sitting on that nest. Once
I saw the two adults exchanging places on the nest. At that time I could see
two eggs at the far edge of the nest and I am sure there were others I
couldn't see. There are lily pads which extend out into the lake about 100'
from the nest. The one grebe would swim to the edge of the lily pads, dive
and then come up by the nest which is about 3-4' back in the rushes. The one
being replaced would go under and come up out in the lake and proceed to swim
away from the area at a good pace. The young should be hatching any day now.

Today, while there this morning, we saw an adult with only one young grebe
about 2-300 yards further up the lake. These would be from another site on
the lake. The young did not look like it was just out of the nest, but maybe
at least a week old. The adult would dive and when the young saw it come up,
it would quickly swim over to the adult with its mouth open. As soon as the
young got close, the adult would dive again without feeding the young one
anything. It did this a number of times. The adult appeared to be trying to
train the young grebe to dive and get its own food.

Also, on Sat. morning I saw at least 30 Black Swifts flying overhead at the
Phantom Lake access area.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com