Looks like the consensus on the International "BirdForum" is for male
Hooded Merganser, with a nod or two for "grebe spp". Sorry, Kelly, but
I think this diagnosis is still "open"

Robert / Seattle


On Feb 16, 2008, at 8:05 PM, Bob Sundstrom wrote:

> Kelly and tweeters,
> ?
> That "duck" that turned out to be a grebe could also be a Clark's
> Grebe.? The apparent amount of white in the primaries may be
> exaggerated by the angle of the photo, but Clark's has more extensive
> white in the outer wing than Western, which the photo suggests.? The
> Sibley Guide p. 29 has good illustrations of them.
> ?
> Bob
> ?
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Kelly McAllister
>> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 7:09 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] dead duck
>>
>> O.K., I'm convinced that the Bald Eagle on Lake Sammamish is carrying
>> a Western Grebe which won by both the number of diagnoses and the
>> specific characteristics visible in the two photos. Thanks, Larry
>> Schwitters, for referring to the picture in the National Geographic
>> Guide of a Western Grebe in flight. That's a good picture for
>> matching up a number of characteristics, like wing shape and color,
>> that I hadn't looked at. Gary Shugart also supplied an image from the
>> Slater Museum wing photo collection that was a nice match for the
>> bird in both pictures. That wing photo collection can be a valuable
>> tool for identifying birds. I remember using it once to identify a
>> road-killed bird that was mostly wings and little else at the time I
>> found it.
>> ?
>> Thanks, everyone, for contributing to this exercise.
>> ?
>> Kelly McAllister
>> Olympia, Washington
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Kelly Cassidy
>>> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>>> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 5:41 AM
>>> Subject: RE: [Tweeters] dead duck
>>>
>>> My vote is for a grebe, too, on the basis of the legs trailing well
>>> behind with no hint of a tail and the apparently short, stubby
>>> wings.? The seeming gray in the plumage doesn't look right, but
>>> maybe that's a trick of the light.
>>> ?
>>> Kelly
>>> ?
>>>
>>> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
>>> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of
>>> Larry Schwitters
>>> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 12:05 AM
>>> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>>> Subject: [Tweeters] dead duck
>>> ?
>>> Tweeters,
>>> ?
>>> When the Issaquah paper came yesterday Leora and I both said
>>> "Western Grebe" at the same time. ?For some reason the photo in the
>>> paper was more obvious than the image on the computer, which still
>>> looks like a Western Grebe with it's head laying over its back
>>> ?
>>> Does not the second photo
>>>
>>>
>>> http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/myseattlepix/photo.asp?
>>> photoID=1008602
>>> ?
>>> show two very long and strange legs hanging down? ?These do not look
>>> like duck legs to me. ?The National Geographic Field Guide has a
>>> drawing of a flying Western Grebe that shows off it's long legs. ?It
>>> also lists it as 25 inches long.?
>>> ?
>>> Poor bird.
>>> ?
>>> Larry Schwitters
>>> Issaquah
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
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