Hi Dave, Nice shots. I'm sending a link to the ones I took on Fri., the 3rd, which show the view of the hind neck. I struggled with the separation of Western / Clark's because I don't have experience with either bird. I didn't doubt the great birders that found and ID'd this guy as Western, but took the opportunity to refine my eye. The field guides like Sibley's / Crossley's etc. leave some ambiguity with these guys. What I wondered about was light lores and the lighter shading of the flanks with a plain demarkation which seems to fall more in line with the Clark's illustrations. The light lores can show in both I gather and the bill is definitely more to the olive-yellow end than bright yellow at least in the light that I had, which wasn't bad. The hind neck black stripe is broad as you can see in my photo and the illustrations of Clark's narrower stripe would seem to be distinctive enough to catch my eye. I didn't get any shots of a spread wing. What ultimately makes me confident is that I heard this guy vocalizing several times. Listening to Lang's recording of both species I have no doubt I was hearing a Western Grebe. Clarks Grebe has more of a clear whistle quality than the vibrato that reached my ear.
This is a great bird and learning experience. I was excited to finally get look after several trips into the wind and waves. Happy birding, Gary https://picasaweb.google.com/103826758925032410864/WesternGrebe?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCObEttC66ZHZjAE&feat=directlink On Feb 5, 2012, at 9:13 AM, david nicosia wrote: Here is the link to the photos I took of the Western Grebe...they are all digi-scoped images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/sets/72157629174516367/ Dave Nicosia ________________________________ From: Meena Haribal <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: david nicosia <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2012 7:21 AM Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Question on the Western Grebe ID Dave, After seeing your pics, you seem to have been much closer than I am, the bill looks yellowish and pointed. Plus average more grayish white flanks on the back too. I would also tend to call it Clark's Grebe. And I think you are the only one who got such detailed pictures. Here is Chris's link. Where you dont see much detail at all. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6673387385/in/photostream/ So it would be interesting see what people would call it after your pics. You dont seem to have given link to your pics. Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 http://haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ ________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [[email protected]] on behalf of david nicosia [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 9:08 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Question on the Western Grebe ID I got a comment on my flickr account saying that the western grebe photos I posted look more like a clark's grebe. This forced me to do a little research on this as I have never been out west to have to learn to distinguish between these two similar species. The white lore would suggest a clark's grebe in non-breeding plumage but I have read in several field guides and on-line that western grebes in non-breeding can show this too. The bill on the bird I saw today was definitively olive-yellow and I had good lighting. Is this the main field mark that is making this a Western Grebe to everyone? Has anyone considered this could be a clark's grebe? Just curious to what other's thought process was on this. Thanks. Dave Nicosia -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
