I cruised up the lake after work to see the big Aythya flock and hopefully the Grebes. The Aythya flock was present and very impressive with the reddish light of sunset bringing out the colors. I shared the spectacle with artist and photographer Bill Roberts of Aurora and the campground owner Carl Rindfleisch. As much as I dislike counting large numbers of amorphous seething life I estimated 16,500 birds with 93% of them Redheads. Both WESTERN GREBES swam together on the far side of the flock. In the short time I was able to watch them they were always very close to each other. If the distance were shorter I could have gotten decent photos of the pair as did Jay and Tom. I also think that the lighter of the pair looks most like the one I observed at Treman Marine. If they stay here through the weekend we may get a definitive answer to the 2 vs 3 mystery. Some timely text messages and calm water should help. My bet is on two. Gary
On Feb 9, 2012, at 7:17 PM, Dave Nutter wrote: For what it's worth, this afternoon I scanned the lake from Treman Marine Park with very good viewing conditions - calm, sun behind me, air temperature somewhat above water temperature, and saw ZERO grebes of any kind, although I did see 1 RED-THROATED LOON and at least 4 COMMON LOONS I think the lighter of the two grebes Tom photographed at Twin Oaks looks like the one I saw in the southwest area of the lake. I saw a similarly extensive and bright white patch on the secondaries, and noted pale flecks on the flank. The whitish loral spot on the lighter Twin Oaks bird was present on both the Myers bird and the one in the southwest part of the lake. Points in favor of Western Grebe for the bird in the southwest part of Cayuga Lake include: broad dark hind-neck (photo by Gary Kohlenberg), vocalizations (notes by Gary Kohlenberg), dull bill with dark line on top and below. I have no experience with these birds in winter, so I'm not trying to argue one way or the other, just summarizing some points. I'll be surprised if there are actually 3 birds, but then again I'm surprised by just one! --Dave Nutter On Feb 09, 2012, at 06:40 PM, david nicosia <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: It is apparently inconclusive if there has been 2 or 3 Western-type Grebes on Cayuga Lake. Tom Johnson's question of Western X Clark's Grebe is intriguing since one of the two birds he and Jay had looks similar to the one at the southern end of the Lake that I photographed on Saturday. When I saw Chris Wood's photos, his bird struck me as being darker like the other bird Jay and Tom had. Anyway... Chris Wood's are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6673386795/in/photostream/ Tom's are here: http://www.flickr.com/bonxie88 Mine are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/6818823433/in/set-72157629174516367/ Are they the same birds? or impossible to tell? In any event, 2 western grebe's or 1 western and 1 western x clark's is amazing....3 of these birds is unfathomable! 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/ --
