Bob, Mary, tweets,

Sorry, I'm on digest mode so I didn't see your messages until early Thursday
morning.

As of two days ago there are at least five Pied-bills on Green Lake. One
pair in the westernmost largest lily pad (corner near the Aurora Underpass).
The male is very recognizable (with a scope). He has a very long, pointy
upper mandible, with a pronounced "overbite." In addition he has a black
"scar" on the right side of his upper mandible. In my opinion this is the
fourth year that he (or a look-alike) is breeding in this general area on
the Lake. His companion unfortunately has no distinguishing marks, so I'm
not sure about her. This pair wintered on the Lake and maintained their
bond. They started nest building in April in the cattails, before the lilies
were out. This nest was invisible (the "normal" situation for pied-bills).
Two weeks ago the nest appeared to have failed (assuming there were eggs,
but I have no way of knowing). The birds started building a new nest nearby,
again in the cattails. No eggs were in that nest when they started
constructing a nest out among the lilies last week. That's the one you see
out in the open. As far as I know there are no eggs in it yet (as of two
days ago). During the laying phase the (turquoise-white) eggs are not
covered, so they should be pretty obvious. Not until incubation starts
(between egg 3 & 4 or so) do the birds start covering the eggs with plant
material when they leave the nest (and the eggs gradually turn brownish).

There is one (unidentified sex) pied-bill hanging out in the lily pad near
the Aurora Crosswalk. That bird is "new." Two days ago was the first time I
saw it. Don't see a nest (or more precisely platform) there but there could
be one in the cattails. I have not spent enough time to see if the bird is
collecting plant material.

Another pair is in the smallest northernmost lily pad (across from Zion
Church Bay / Twin Teepees). Two days ago there were several small heaps of
floating plant material among the lilies, the one closest to the willow
appeared to be favored/most developed.

As for some of Bob's remarks & concerns.
First-off, welcome back to the Lake Bob, I hope your knee continues to
improve.

It's normal for pied-bills to either show up late on the Lake or fail in
early attempts. I assume that nests in the cattails have a high failure rate
due to any number of causes. People fishing going into the cattails is one.
Rats, raccoons, dogs & cats prowling the cattails is another. Wakes from
boats is a third. Once the lilies are out and dense enough to reduce the
wakes from boats, the birds start constructing nests out in the open. Then
they have to wait out the Eurasian Carp spawning spectacle. Many of these
fish are so big (and the males vying for a position to fertilize the eggs
females release among water plants are so vigorous while splashing around at
the surface) that they easily destroy grebes' floating nests (with or
without eggs), even throwing incubating grebes off their nest.

The reason I've been able to study the grebes at Green Lake is that they
become habituated to lots of activities on the water and the shore. I
honestly don't think the number of people fishing the Lake has impacted the
grebes (discarded fishing line/hooks/sinkers is another matter all together,
don't get me started!). Early in the season, before the blackberries (yes, a
positive role for blackberries...) discourage people from entering the
cattails, some nest in the cattails may be disturbed by fisher, but usually
not this late in the season. There are more people fishing the Lake these
days. Many of these people are after the carp. I can only applaud that,
since the carp are non-native and quite destructive to the lake's ecology
(including grebes). The introduction of Tiger Muskies (sterile hybrid
between Northern Pike and Tiger Muskellunge) by Washington State Department
of Fish and Wildlife to me seems a deplorable experiment. Not only are the
Tiger Muskies vastly outnumbered (a few hundred 18-inch of these fish were
released to deal with many thousands of carp, the larger females of which
may produce 2 Million eggs in a season!), Fish and Wildlife has no data on
what the impact of these predatory fish is on native wildlife. I will be
monitoring survival of grebe chicks closely. Tiger Muskies like to hunt from
cover (like water lilies), and soon there will be these bite-size black and
white grebe chicks swimming around among the lilies..... Luckily I have 12
years worth of productivity and survival data on grebe chicks on the Lake
prior to Tiger Muskie introduction.

Anyway, things look "normal" to me. I expect more grebes to show up in the
coming month. Perhaps these birds are failed breeders from elsewhere or
late-starting young birds. Perhaps they show up early in the season and
don't find enough nesting habitat available on the Lake, but later on whith
the lilies emerged there is more room. As far as the nest across from
Kirkwood is concerned; in all the years that I've watched grebes there only
once did a pair succeed in raising young in that location. There's a small
stand of bulrush where they build, which doesn't provide enough shelter from
wind-generated waves when the north wind kicks up. By no means does a pair
nest there every year.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Martin Muller, Seattle