Hi everyone,



I spent several hours this morning at Three Forks Natural Area near Snoqualmie, and also walked the Snoqualmie Valley Trail from Three Forks through the Mount Si Golf Course to the nice habitat that borders the trail just past the golf course.? Had good looks at six warbler species - Wilson's, Black-throated Gray, Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Orange-crowned and Common Yellowthroat (this last one was heard only).? Also my first Western Wood-Pewee of the year, a flock of Cedar Waxwings, two beautiful Bullock's Orioles and multitudes of Black-headed Grosbeaks.? In the oxbow lake bordering the golf course, there was a very vocal Pied-billed Grebe, clearly ready to set up housekeeping with the first willing female to come along.?



I rarely play tapes (especially during breeding season) but I played the vocalization once on my iPhone to see if he would call back.? The response was amazing, even though the volume possible from the iPhone is quite low and I wasn't even sure he could hear it.? Rather than call back, the bird swam - fast! - in a beeline directly toward where I was standing on the trail.? At first I wasn't sure it was the grebe, because there was just a ripple in the water as if a just-submerged otter or beaver was swimming underwater.? It turned out that the grebe was checking not only above water for the intruder, but also would sometimes submerge while continuing to swim toward me - from all appearances, it seemed like he wasn't about to let the interloper escape by diving underwater either.? He got all the way to the foot of the bank below where I stood, gave several defiant looks around to convince himself he had driven his competition?off and then made his way back to where I first heard him.? About an hour later when I was walking back in that direction, he was belting out his call at the top of his lungs again.? Hopefully he'll find a?mate soon before he develops laryngitis (or I?guess to be technically correct that would be syryngitis).? ?



Loons are famous for being extremely aggressive when protecting their breeding lake, and apparently that attitude applies to grebes (at least Pied-billed) as well.?



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net