Robert Pisano wrote:

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
------------------

I never wrote about this bird, because I thought Gary Shugart's first
post on the subject put the answer out there clearly enough.

The bird is (was?) a Western or Clark's Grebe, unless there is an
undescribed species out there with the characteristics of one of
these birds. There is nothing else with wings marked like that, and,
contrary to the impression one gets from David Sibley's guide, both
species of Aechmophorus grebes appear to vary similarly in the amount
of white in their wings (wing specimens in the Burke Museum). Both
are surprisingly variable, from almost no white to a long white stripe.

The feet hanging way behind the tail could belong to nothing else but
one of these grebes, which have feet that are black on one side and
yellow on the other. The white on the back looks clearly to me like
the long white neck of a Western/Clark's Grebe somewhat twisted around.

Sorry there is no comparable photo of a duck on the web, but if you
look at photos of ducks in flight, you'll see that their feet don't
stick out beyond their tails, and even if you pulled all the tail
feathers out, the toes still wouldn't project much beyond the tip of
the tail coverts. A grebe's feet, on the other hand, including most
of the tarsus, stick way out beyond the almost nonexistent tail in
flight.

No offense to the International Bird Forum, but I see nothing about
that photo that would make me think it was a Hooded Merganser!
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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