Tom Mickel wanted to share a Western Grebe photo he took this last fall at the Narrows, Malhuer NWR, Harney Co. OR.
This is certainly the darkest bird I’ve ever seen. I’d guess it’s a youngster, but I don’t think that alone explains the color…
If you get out your first edition copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Western Birds and look up Western Grebe, you’ll see the following picture.
This is what was known as the “light-phase” form of Western Grebe, not that Peterson (or pretty much anyone else back in the day) even acknowledged that there were two color phases. The 2nd edition contained a new grebe plate, but the Western Grebe in that edition still looked (more or less) like a light-phased bird. And you’re far more likely to see the “dark-phased” form.
Until very recently, Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebe were not even considered different subspecies, just light and dark color-phases of the same species. Both color-phases could be found on the same lakes. There was no reason to think anything of it… until somebody started paying attention.
Detailed behavioral studies conducted in the 1970′s (Ratti 1979) showed that dark-phased birds mated almost exclusively with dark-phased birds and light-phased birds mated with light-phased birds. The timing of courtship was different. They sang slightly different songs (yes, I said songs, deal with it). In 1985, much to the surprise and delight of birders everywhere, the two color phases were split into separate species. The dark ones continued to be called Western Grebes, the lights ones were called Clark’s Grebes. In the 1990 third addition, Peterson finally showed both forms.
Western Grebes are more common than Clark’s Grebes. Around 500 winter on the lower Columbia. Large rafts of them can be seen on Youngs Bay. Clark’s Grebes are much rarer and seeing them close up around here is very unusual. I saw one near the West Mooring Basin last week, but didn’t have my camera. I went out yesterday to see if I could get lucky. Some times the magic works.
From my position on the river-walk above the river, I was able to get photos of the bird foraging in the shallow water.
Closer to the mooring basin I found what is usually referred to as an intermediate phase bird.
They can be vexing to folks who really, really want to see a Clark’s Grebe. These “tweeners” may be poorly marked Clark’s Grebes or possibly hybrids. Grebologists are still working on that bit of Natural History. The prudent birder would be wise to let them go as “species undetermined”. Isn’t diversity wonderful?
REFERENCES
Ahlquist, J. E., A. H. Bledsoe, J. T. Ratti, and C. G. Sibley. 1987. Divergence of the single-copy DNA sequences of the Western Grebe (A.occidentalis) and Clark’s Grebe (A. clarkii), as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization. Postilla 200:1-7.
Ratti, J.T. 1979. Reproductive Separation and Isolating Mechanisms between sympatric Dark- and Light-phase Western Grebes. Auk 96:573-586.
Storer, R. W. and G. L. Nuechterlein. 1992. Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/026b
Seen along the Astoria Waterfront this morning.
The weather is expected to turn rainy again, so figured today would be my last chance to take advantage of the winter light for a while. I set out to east county on a photo safari. We’re creeping up on the winter doldrums, that place in the birding season between the movements of late fall and early winter and the beginning of the spring migration. This is a good time to sort through the myriad flocks of regularly occurring winter species and really get to know their field marks and range of variation.
My first stop was the wetland at Svensen Island which was full of TUNDRA SWANS including a couple that were close enough for photos.
Along the Webb District Road near Woodson, I came across a huge flock of AMERICAN ROBINS in one of the roadside pastures.
And back in Brownsmead I came across multiple flocks of GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS.
The lack of a yellow “teardrop” on a swan does not mean it’s a Trumpeter, though the extra hump on the bill might make you go “hmmm…”
If you look through enough robins flocks, you’ll find all sorts of outliers, including first winter birds with startlingly conspicuous “eye-brows”.
And the first winter Golden-crowns are beginning their molt into first alternate plumage, a time when they look like they have whiter throats and blotchier faces then they should.
More photos HERE.
A particularly energetic series of winter storms hit the North Coast beginning last Tuesday. Weather from a system originating in the Philippines dumped close to 6 inches of rain in the space of 4 days with winds to about 60mph at times. The mix of high winds and extra water has made for a mighty rough ocean. So, it was not surprising that I got a note from Sharnelle Fee of the North Coast Wildlife Center alerting me that birds were coming in to the center as a result of the storm. What was a little surprising was the the species list…
Horned Puffin
Tufted Puffin
We see Rhinoceros Auklets during winter storm events annually. Sometimes 100′s of birds. Other puffins are a different story. Tufted Puffins breed in Oregon, but usually spend the winter far out to sea. Horned Puffins breed in Alaska and are very rarely ever see alive in Oregon, though wrecks during heavy winter storms have occurred in the past.
Other birds currently recovering from one kind of trauma or another at the rehab center include: Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Ruddy Duck, Green-winged Teal, American Coot, Horned Grebe, Northern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Brown Pelican and lots of Rhinoceros Auklets…
It was raining one of those North Coast rains. The kind of rain we get in between the stormy, driven rains and the drizzly, marine air mist; that steady straight to the ground drip, mingled with fog. The kind of rain the intermittent setting on the windshield wipers was made for. I had heard about the diver Monday, but between the freak snow storm on Tuesday and the freak tropical gale on Wednesday, I hadn’t got round to chasing it down. Today we just had rain…
It was a good day for divers…
The first diver I saw was a RED-THROATED LOON
I could see larger birds out in the middle of the boat basin, so drove around to the docks and braved the rain, camera under my coat.
The PACIFIC LOON was surprisingly cooperative. I took plenty of pictures. Only one turned out.
I finally got close to a COMMON LOON, feasting a crab parts.
But try as I might, there was no sign of a White-billed. I decided to walk out the middle dock one more time. I saw a pale looking Common and began to wonder if, maybe, the report had been a mis-ID.
I turned to leave and there it was, floating not more than 5 meters away, as if it had been following me all along, playing hide and seek, but now finally found out.
My mission complete, I went off to photograph damp looking gulls…
You can see more photos from my Ilwaco, WA diver chase HERE.
I went on walkabout today in about 4 inches of snow. I saw some interesting bird-sign. Can you ID the birds from their tracks?
Seen today behind the Fultano’s Pizza in Astoria this morning.
I walked Sunset Beach today. There was a significant wreck of RHINOCEROS AUKLETS.
I counted 10 fairly fresh birds in about 1 km of walking. We had a couple pretty good storms earlier in the week and this is probably a fallout from that. What was unusual is that I found no fresh Northern Fulmars and only one fresh(ish) Common Murre. Most storm wrecks produce a wider variety of casualties.
As always the ravens and eagles were on the job to clean things up.
I also saw good numbers of DUNLIN.
