Subject: To grebe not to grebe
Date: Feb 24 09:21:48 2004
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at telus.net


Fred and Tweeters,

>From my experience with Eared and Horned Grebes in the winter, this
kind of behavior (gathering in large flocks which dive and surface all
together) is more typical of Eared Grebes. However, it is not unheard
of in Horned Grebes. I have seen tight flocks of up to 60 Horned
Grebes near Vancouver which dove and surfaced synchronously.

So my suggestion would be that this flock is more likely to be Eared
Grebes, but that Horned Grebe cannot be ruled out. Better get a more
powerful scope (maybe a Questar?), or wait for the flock to come into
closer range before pronouncing them Eared Grebes!

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


> --------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
> From: "Martin Muller" <MartinMuller at msn.com>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>, <fsharpe at sfu.ca>
> Subject: Re: To grebe not to grebe
> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 07:16:33 -0800
>
> Fred,
>
> While the Eared Grebe is known for its congregations of thousands of
=
> birds (sometimes hundreds of thousands during migration and in
winter) =
> the Horned Grebe is not. The Horned usually is seen in pairs or
small =
> flocks at most.
>
> If it is between these two species (having ruled out Western and =
> Red-necked, I would put my money on Eared.
>
> Martin Muller
> Olympic Manor, Seattle, WA
> MartinMuller at msn.com=20
>
> ----- Original Message -----=20
> From: fsharpe at sfu.ca=20
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu=20
> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 11:01 PM
> Subject: To grebe not to grebe
>
> Tweets,
>
> For the past two days, I have observed a dense flock of grebes
> south of Shine near the west end of the Hood Canal bridge.=20
> They are just out of scope range=20
> to clinch the ID between horned and eared grebe.
> It is possible to differentiate these two species on behavioral
cues?
> The grebes remain in a dense knot of approx. 200 synchronously
diving,
> hyper-active birds.=20
> There is also the typical smattering of horned grebes about the
bay
> Any thoughts?
>