This summer I had two unidentified birds in my yard. Honestly, I have
searched and searched for identification for these two birds and have
not found the first clue. The closest that I have come to identifying
these medium to large sized birds was that they were a pair of strange
looking Grebes. I've searched several birding websites, Sibley's, and
many other birding books from the library. The closest match that I
can determine is that these two resembled a pair of dull grey Grebes
(without the fancy yellow eye feathers). The matched set also had
red/orange breast, a curved neck, and a pattern of drinking where they
throw their head back to swallow.
I thought that they may have been large woodpeckers due to their
longish beaks, but what do I know.... lol. My beliefs about what a
"duck" looks like have been shattered by a Grebe's bill or is it beak?

My questions:

How many variations of Grebes are there?
Where do you draw the line between a bill and a beak?

Thank you listers.

Michelle
Yelm
Thurston County
yelmbackyard at gmail.com