We saw those Western grebes today--about 15 out next to the jetty on the
sand, sitting there, some of them up on their back legs running along the
sand, and we thought it was rather unusual for Western grebes to be behaving
this way. You could walk right up to them. A few minutes later two
vehicles drove up and started catching them and putting them in cardboard
boxes and loading them in their cars. When we asked them what they were
doing, they explained that these grebes had been battling a three-week storm
and were too weak to break the surf and swim back out in the ocean, and
would be dead within 24 hours. They had lost all their insulation and were
soaked to the bone. Several died right after being caught. They were
taking them to PAWS in Lynnwood where these starving birds would be fed
fish, hopefully in time to save as many of them as they could.

Linda Bartlett
llbart at scn.org
Kent, WA