Grebes

Pied-billed Grebe**

Podilymbus podiceps
Round Pond held fewer birds than usual when an RBA field trip arrived on 24 April 1999. However, participants found at least one bird of interest: “A Pied-billed Grebe was struggling heroically to swallow a fish seemingly larger than its head,” Richard Ashworth related. “It finally triumphed, although it looked decidedly uncomfortable after the victory.” (LG, June 1999) Unfortunately, opportunities to observe this bird in the Rochester area, especially on its ponds and marshes during summer, are becoming less frequent. There has been a dramatic decline in the breeding numbers of the diminutive Hell-diver, so-named because of its habit of diving out of sight to elude pursuers.
Background
This species has the widest distribution of any American grebe, breeding on ponds and wetlands with dense stands of emergent vegetation from northern Canada through the West Indies and Central America to southern South America. To escape danger, it rarely flies. Instead it either crash-dives – often kicking water several feet in the air – or sinks stealthily out of view, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. When hiding, it may remain underwater with its eyes and nostrils just above the surface. When other birds enter its territory, the male will often respond by attacking from under water; other birds often flee at the mere sight of a male diving. Though seldom seen in flight, this nocturnal migrant must be capable of flying over long distances: Vagrants have reached Europe and Hawaii, and now breed in the latter. Considered common over most of its range. However, numerical declines have been noted in the eastern U.S. where eutrophication of wetlands may be a problem. “Wetland managers need to periodically reverse vegetative succession and open up extensive stands of emergent vegetation while maintaining suitable habitats nearby to serve as alternate nesting areas during wetland manipulation.” (BNA 410: 1-3, 23-24)
Local history
“I have noticed it breeding . . . on the bays of Lake Ontario near Rochester . . .” Eaton (1910) wrote. However, he noted, this species was “much less commonly distributed” than formerly, all across the state, because of the draining of marshy ponds and streams, and the intrusions of fishermen and pleasure seekers along those that remained. Though Pied-billed Grebe was common as a migrant in Monroe County, he listed it as only an occasional summer resident, breeding only at intervals of a few years. (Eaton I: 96-97, county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to five birds, with a maximum count of 15, on dates ranging from 29 March to 21 December.When Leo Tanghe tallied up the returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-mile radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 472 times, more than two-thirds of the sightings occurring late March through April and late August through November. Only a dozen sightings were reported during June and July – barely exceeding the 11 during January and February. (KB 5: 69: 1A-1B) A report of 10, including young, near Beatty Point in July 1952 was particularly noteworthy. (GOS, September/October 1952)Even so, in his 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area, Tanghe considered this a common nester at such locations as Buck Pond and the Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary near Bushnell’s Basin. (GOS, May/August 1953)Within five years, however, notes of alarm began to be sounded.Howard Miller noted that none of these birds had been reported during the summer of 1958 (KB8:79), repeated his alarm in 1960 (KB10: 101) and again reported them as unreported during the summers of 1963 and 1964. (KB13: 209; 14: 221)Two families nested on Collamer Pond at Shore Acres in 1966, where eight adults and young were seen on 19 June. (KB16: 220; BA, 30 June 1966). In 1970, O’Hara reported a “somewhat improved breeding status after sharp drop of a few years ago” (KB20: 187), but only one was reported the following summer. (KB21: 219) Higher lake levels in 1974 again led to increased sightings that summer (KB24: 189), but this species went “almost unreported” the next. (KB25: 214) Perhaps part of the problem was one of detection. “Although Pied-billed Grebes are known to nest in the Rochester area . . .the bird is so secretive during the breeding season we seldom have a nesting record near Rochester,” the Goshawk noted in 1952. (GOS, September/October 1952) Even during the Breeding Bird Atlas projects, with birders specifically looking for breeding evidence, this species was hard to find.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, uncommon summer resident, and an irregular, rare winter visitor.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a regular uncommon winter visitant, a regular fairly common spring and fall transient and an occasional rare summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 4 March to 3 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 19 March to 10 April.
Spring maxima: 10 on 22 April 1978 (M. and R. McKinney) west lakeshore. (GNR)
Summer/breeding status: It is perhaps telling that this species was not confirmed in our region during the first BBA project until 1983, three years into the project. (KB 33: 266-267) The BBA confirmed nesting in only four blocks. During summer 1990 “traditional nesting sites along Lake Ontario west of Rochester produced only a single sighting,” Kevin Griffith noted. (KB40: 245) Now it has all but disappeared as a breeder in those marshes, as noted with concern in recent regional Kingbird reports (e.g. KB 43:313). It was nesting at Murray and at Conesus Swamp in 1997, but not elsewhere. (KB 47: 296, Fox, p. 20)Though blocks with evidence of breeding actually increased during the second BBA project, no evidence of breeding was found in the Braddock Bay area or the lakefront marshes to the west. However, these losses were offset by evidence of breeding in four lakefront blocks in eastern Wayne County, in and around the Lakeshore Marshes WMA, and an increase in blocks in and around the Montezuma wetlands complex.

Clearly, this remains a very localized breeding species of special concern. Iroquois NWR/Oak Orchard WMA/Tonawanda WMA has hosted about seventy-five breeding pairs and, along with Montezuma NWR, may be the last strongholds near our region. (Levine, p. 98)The decline has not been limited to our region, but has been noted across New York and adjacent states, for reasons that are not clear. It is also easily be overlooked during the breeding season. As Paul F. Connor has noted, its call can be mistaken for that of Common Moorhen; it seldom flies, preferring instead to escape by “diving or skulking in surrounding vegetation,” and when approached at the nest, it leaves quietly and usually remains out of sight. (Andrle, p. 28)
Summer maxima:     6 on 2 June 1979 (Barlow) at Braddock Bay. (GNR)     8 on 19 June 1966 (Listman) at Shore Acres. (GOS, July/September 1966)
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 8 October to 5 December, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 31 October to 20 November.Migrating birds gather on bays and ponds. However, only five were observed on Lake Ontario during the Hamlin Beach Lakewatch project. “For a species with a large breeding range north and west of Lake Ontario, it is not being detected as a fall lake migrant,” Ewald and Sherony noted. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 28)
Fall maxima:     20 on 14 September 1986 (F. Dobson, Gillette) at Round Pond. (GOS, November 1986)     60 on 15 October 2006 (Hartquist) at Irondequoit Bay. (LG, December 2006)     24 on 22 October 1980 (Clarridge) at Mendon Ponds. (GOS, December 1980)     22 on 13 November 2007 (M. Tetlow) at Sodus Bay. (LG, January 2008)
Winter: It is not unusual to find birds lingering in winter. Four on 31 January 1953 (Kemnitzers) were at Sodus Bay. (GNR) Two wintered at the “warm water outlet” at Russell Station during the 1956-57 season. (KB7:18) One was on the Genesee River downtown between the Broad Street bridge and the Court Street dam for the Christmas Bird Count “and for several days thereafter” during the winter of 1960-61. (BA, 2 February 1961; KB 11:44) Sixteen, tallied all across Region 2 during the January Waterfowl Count in 1957, was a particularly good number. More recently, it has been recorded in our region on 17 of the 33 counts conducted from 1975 to 2007, including all but two years after 1995, usually single digits but a peak tally of 21 in 1990.
Winter maxima:      15 on 5 December 1970 (T. Tetlow) at Conesus Lake. (GNR)     13 on 22 December 1968 (Listman, White) at Conesus Lake. (GNR)     24 on 28 December 1978 (Perrigo) at Conesus Lake. (Fox, p. 20)     16 on 6 January 2006 (Davids, D. Tetlow) at Conesus Lake. (LG March 2006)

Horned Grebe

Podiceps auritus
The travails of a web-footed bird that crashed into a house just north of Kodak Park in 1963 was front-page news in the Rochester Times-Union. And it had a happy ending. But not without some human intervention. As Birds Afield columnist John Brown related to his readers, a Horned Grebe, “either because of exhaustion or miscalculation” crashed into Don Ratschkowsky’s Christian Avenue house on 28 January. Ratschkowsky put the bird in a box “and tried in vain to get it to eat.” Grebes, with webbed feet placed far back on their bodies, are admirably equipped to dive in water, but are extremely awkward on land. Nonetheless, this one managed to escape. It wandered into the street, where it was picked up by John Hoppe of Kodak Park. He took it to Kodak employee Gerhard Leubner, local birder and bird bander, who put the grebe in a glass container of water. “The grebe spurned canned tuna but a live guppy dropped in the water was gobbled up in a trice,” Brown noted. Leubner banded the bird, then freed it in the river near the Rochester Yacht Club. “It swam off, apparently contented.” (“All Ended Well for Grebe,” TU, 7 February 1963) This was not the only Horned Grebe that had to be rescued. Edson, in 1950, recalled that “some years ago, one had the misfortune to fly into the wires coming toward the reservoir in Highland Park. I picked him up and took him for a ride to the river. On this ride he seemed to enjoy himself and made no effort to escape or bite the hand of his benefactor. When he was placed in the water he stayed close to shore, for a minute or two, then slowly swam off downstream. I wonder what it thought about. Perhaps he thought I was too poor or too big a fish for him.” (WBR, 30 October 1950)
Background
When not confined to glass containers, Horned Grebes have a remarkable diving ability. Eaton (1910) claimed to have often seen them “remain under water for three minutes and cover a distance of at least 30 rods at one dive.” (Eaton I: 95) “Known to most North American field observers in its contrasting dark-and-white Basic (winter) plumage, the Horned Grebe acquires warm colors and performs intricate courtship displays in its breeding habitat,” notes Stephen J. Stedman in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. That habitat consists of small ponds and lake inlets containing a mix of emergent vegetation and open water, over a large range that encompasses much of Alaska and the western half of Canada, and also includes portions of Europe and Asia. Winters along Pacific and Atlantic coasts and in southeastern states, and in smaller numbers on the lower Great Lakes. Breeding rituals include a unique “Weed” ceremony, in which male and female dive, emerge carrying weeds in their bills, come together, rise breast to breast in a “Weed Dance,” then immediately turn parallel and move quickly side by side for several meters across the water. Though this is still one of the most abundant breeding grebes in North America, its range has been contracting toward the northwest, having vacated known historical breeding sites in New Brunswick, Quebec, Wisconsin and Minnesota for unknown reasons. CBC data show slow, steady decline. However, because it breeds in low densities at high latitudes, and because wintering birds are widely dispersed, accurate population figures are lacking. One rough estimate is 100,000 for the entire continent. (BNA 505: 1-3, 12, 18)
Local history
“In the western part of the State it is perhaps commoner than in the east, and for a short time in April and in early November each year it is fairly abundant,” Eaton (1910) wrote. He listed this as a fairly common migrant and uncommon winter visitor in Monroe County, also occurring as a migrant at Wayne. (Eaton I: 95, county charts) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of 1 to 10 and a maximum of 150 within dates ranging from 12 October to 13 May. “For some reason, the Horned grebe was not reported in this vicinity all Winter,” Horsey and Edson noted in April 1931, “but now migrating flocks are to be noted on the lake and other bodies of open water.” (“Barn Swallow Here Earlier by Week Than in 19 Years,” D&C, 13 April 1931)“When well out from shore these birds are often mistaken for white-caps, but to the trained eye of the careful observer the silvery white of the birds is several degrees whiter than the white-caps,” they noted three years earlier. (“Horned Grebe Flaunts Winter Plumage to Visitors at Lake,” D&C, 29 October 1928) “Therefore, when one sees white-caps which seem very local in distribution, he should look more carefully for it is quite possible that they may turn out to be horned grebes.”When Leo Tanghe examined returns from 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-mile radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, this species was reported 395 times, most often as a migrant during April and during late October through November, with average counts reaching 30 to 50 birds in early October. Only 10 records, averaging no more than 3-5 birds in January. (KB 5: 69: 1A-1B)It was reported in Region 2 during six of the first ten years of the January Waterfowl Count, from 1955-1964, with a peak tally of 21 in 1962. Twenty-six were tallied five years later.With better scopes, local lakewatchers now find much higher numbers, even in winter.
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a very common spring and fall transient and an irregular, uncommon winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an irregular fairly common winter visitant, a (presumably regular) fairly common spring transient and a regular fairly common fall transient.
Occurrence
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 25 August (1983) to 10 November, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 1 to 24 October. Subsequently, one on 15 August 1996 (K. and J. Fox) at Hamlin Beach SP was an earlier “first” of the fall migration (GOS, October 1996), tied by one on the same date in 1998 (G. Chapin, Sherony) at Charlotte. (GOS, October 1998) Also early: Two on 19 August 2002 (Symonds) at Hamlin Beach SP. (KB 52:350) In most years had departed by 6 December, with a late departure date of 20 December. Peak numbers off Hamlin Beach SP during the Hamlin Beach Lakewatch project occurred early October to mid November with 1,100 net migrants tallied, on average, each season. “When migrating, they are the first birds seen in early morning, usually in small flocks of 3 to 10 or as singles. They routinely feed offshore in loosely connected small groups,” Ewald and Sherony reported. Peak numbers tended to fly by two days after a cold front. (Ewald and Sherony, pp. 19, 28)
Fall maxima:      500 on 29 September 1975 (Perrigo) Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, October 1975)      350 on 29 October 1967 (Doherty, Miller, Phelps) Hamlin Beach SP. (GOS, December 1967)      500+ on 29 October 1989 (R. and S. Spahn) off the west lakeshore (GOS, December 1989)      347 on 4 November 1999 (Hamlin Beach Lakewatch) at Hamlin Beach SP. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 29)      554 on 14 November 2003 (R. Spahn) Hamlin Beach SP. (GOS, January 2004)            Winter: Many stay in winter, normally “well out beyond the shore ice and . . . difficult to see from land,” Ewald and Sherony observed. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 28)Three men had an interesting encounter with one while ice fishing on Conesus Lake in January 1984. “A Horned Grebe skidded to a stop within ten feet of where they were fishing,” Frank Dobson reported. (Birds, 15 Jan 1984) “It promptly tucked its head under a wing and went to sleep.”However, when a friendly black dog wandered over on the ice and took a sniff at the bird, the grebe “responded with a vicious poke from its sharp bill.” The bird then made its departure. “Heading into a 20 mph wind, slipping and sliding all over the ice, with a slipping, sliding dog in pursuit as well, the grebe was airborne in less than a hundred feet.”During the 161 days Bill Symonds conducted a January to mid-March lakewatch at Hamlin Beach SP from 1994-2000, he recorded this species 62 percent of the days, averaging 9 per day. However, his maximum count was 114 on 1 February 1998. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 20) Recorded on 27 of the 33 January Waterfowl Counts conducted in our region from 1975-2007, usually less than 50, but a peak tally of 283 in 2001. The 60 on 26 December 1983 (Davids) at Conesus Lake was a good inland count. (Fox, p. 20; GNR)
Winter maxima:      350 on 8 January 2006 (Davids, D. Tetlow) at Hamlin and Kendall. (LG, March 2006)      300+ on 12 January 1998 (D. Tetlow) off the west lakeshore. (GOS, March 1998) Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 March to 7 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 12 to 26 March. However, one on 23 February 1984 (Lloyd, Sunderlin) east lakeshore was an earlier “first record for the spring migration.” (GNR) In most years had departed by 15 May, with a late departure date of 23 June.Allen Kemnitzer reported 1,200 moving westward from Irondequoit Bay to Webster Park on 23 April 1962. (GNR) “Undeterred by bad weather, the grebes were flying in flocks of 30 or 35, and others were resting on the lake,” John Brown reported. (BA, 26 April 1962) “Between 7 and 10:30 a.m., Kemnitzer counted a total of 1,200, despite very poor visibility. Several were seen resting on Irondequoit Bay. The following day a survey of the same stretch of lake turned up less than 10 grebes.”
Spring maxima:     1,000 on 7 April 1959 ( Listman, mob) at Manitou. (GNR)       408 on 15 April 2001 (Symonds, mob) at Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, June 2001)        450 on 22 April 1956 (Hartwell) at Mendon Ponds Park – an extraordinary number for that location. (GOS, January/June 1956)     1,200 on 23 April 1962 (Kemnitzer) flying westward from Irondequoit Bay to Webster Park. (GNR)
Summer: Very rarely reported in summer. Two on 23 June 1978 (N. Henderson) were at Manitou and one on 18 July that year (N. Henderson) was off Parma. (GNR) Another on 26 July 1999 (Davids) was at Hamlin Beach. (GNR)

Red-necked Grebe

(formerly Holboell’s Grebe)Podiceps grisegena
Looking back on an otherwise disappointing month of birding in March 1980, Chip Perrigo found one bright spot: Flocks of 5 to 20 of these birds had again gathered along the lakeshore. “Red-necked Grebes are a peculiar species, but certainly interesting and thoroughly amusing to watch; bright rusty necks and sparkling white cheeks reflecting the morning sun, their long necks held arrogantly aloft while emitting a ventriloqual series of moans, grunts, and tremolos typical of the relatively primitive grebe family.” (LG April 1980) Of course, if you happen to live along the lakeshore when these birds periodically gather by the hundreds, and even thousands in spring, those primitive moans and grunts can quickly wear thin. Pat Reister experienced that during the spring of 1977, when 1,210 were tallied along the west lakeshore on 10 April. “Reister, who lives on the lake at Payne Beach Road, reported that each morning at dawn the howling and squawking cacophony of dozens of Red-necked Grebes engaged in heated courtship ritual eventually turned from a blessing into a barely tolerable annoyance.” (LG May 1977)
Background
This “large, highly pugnacious” grebe nests on small lakes and other bodies of water in northern prairies, western parklands and forests, from Alaska to just west of the Great Lakes, and occasionally in areas just to their north. Red-necked Grebes in North American and eastern Asia are larger than ones in Europe and western Asia and for many years were called Hoelbell’s Grebe. While wintering along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and, to a lesser extent, along Lake Ontario and other Great Lakes, it is “generally quiet and unobtrusive, although groups of spring migrants may engage in calling and courtship at stopover areas.” This involves a harsh-sounding series of whinnies, honkings, chitterings and braying calls. Many birds arrive on the breeding grounds already paired. Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River “may be used more extensively in autumn migration than is currently documented… Lake Ontario appears to be especially important as a spring stopover area, with large buildups of migrant flocks in several areas.” Parents carry newly hatched young on their backs where they are brooded and fed until they learn to swim and dive on their own. North American population probably exceeds 45,000. However, historical information is scarce, so it is hard to assess trends. (BNA 465: 1-2, 5, 9, 20, 23)
Local history
“Every spring and fall several of these birds are seen on Lakes Ontario and Canandaigua by the writer,” according to Eaton (1910). “The latest in my notebook is of a specimen seen off Charlotte on . . . May 30, 1904.” He listed this as an uncommon migrant and winter visitor in Monroe, and an occasional migrant in Wayne. (Eaton I: 93-94, county charts)  R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of one to three birds, with a maximum of 20, on dates ranging from 23 October to 22 May.  “Possibly the Holboell’s (Red-necked) Grebe is the least common of our visitors for the week, as he is not recorded every year,” Edson observed in 1939. One was seen on the river “north of Elmwood Avenue Bridge” on 15 April that year, “so it is to be noted that it frequently lands where least expected.” (WBR, 24 April 1939)Two sightings – one and two birds in November 1952 – prompted the observation that this species was “an excellent find in this area.” (GNR) When Leo Tanghe looked at the results of 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-mile radius of Rochester from 1951-1954, this species was reported only 35 times, most frequently in early April and early November, with average counts reaching 10-20 birds in spring, and 5-7 in fall. (KB 5: 69: 1A-1B)So when 68 were reported on 4 April 1955 (Van Beurden) from Manitou to Shore Acres, Edson believed it to be “the largest number recorded here in recent years.” In fact, “in my experience it has been very unusual to see more than one or two at a time.” (WBR, 11 April 1955; GOS April/December 1955) Three years later, Allen Kemnitzer tallied 1,100 from Webster Park to Sodus Bay on 4 April. (GNR) “Never before . . . in the annals of local ornithology has there been a flight like the one recorded last week by Allen Kemnitzer,” John Brown noted. (BA, 10 April 1958) “The count was made at stops at 12 points along the lakeshore and probably represents only a small portion of the total number of these birds on the lake.” Was this a new phenomenon, or one that had occurred from time to time in prior years, but simply escaped notice?
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common to common spring transient; an irregular, uncommon fall transient and an irregular, rare winter visitant. With increased lake coverage, its status as fall transient, and perhaps as winter visitor, is now considered regular.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a sporadic rare winter visitant, and a (presumably irregular) rare spring and fall transient.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 1 March to 14 April, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 15 March to 4 April. Subsequently, one on 28 February 1987 (Griffith) at Braddock Bay was an earlier “first record of spring migration.” (GNR) In most years had departed by 12 May, with a late departure date of 3 June.Kemnitzer’s startling tally in 1958 has been exceeded in five other springs in late March or early April. But these large stagings are by no means regular. During some springs, there is a startling lack of birds to be seen, for reasons that are not clear. For example, in spring 1960, two years after Kemnitzer’s big tally, there were only two birds recorded. (KB 10:59). “It goes without saying that the greatest surprise of the year was the sudden appearance of hundreds of ‘rare’ Red-necked Grebes along the west lakeshore,” Chip Perrigo commented after another mass gathering in 1977. “A flight of the same incredible magnitude was recorded in April of 1958 . . . along the East lakeshore, but what factors can cause such a bizarre shift in migrational patterns is still a mystery.” (LG, May 1977)Robert Spahn, writing about this second “invasion” in 1977, observed that “at 6:30 a.m., the birds were near shore, calling, courting, and feeding, but by 8:00-8:15 a.m., when field trip groups arrived, the birds were largely a mile or more offshore, much to the frustration of many seeking a life bird.” (KB28:95)During another mass gathering in 1982, birds “were present in varying numbers from 24 March to 17 April, generally over a 3-20 mile stretch of Lake Ontario shoreline from about Braddock Bay west,” Spahn noted. “Searches to the east on the peak days produced very few birds. This staging occurred in a cold period prior to the fishing derby mobs appearing on the water.” (KB32: 189)Usually seen on the lake. However seven were at Perinton and another seven at Mendon Ponds on 8 and 20 April, respectively, in 2000. (LG, June 2000) It is rare farther inland. (Fox, p. 20)
Spring maxima:     1,088 on 24 March 2006 (Daniels, R. Spahn) along the west lakeshore. (LG, May 2006)     1,118+ on 25 March 1982 (J. Skelly) west lakeshore. (KB 32:189)     1,200 on 2 April 2005 (D. Tetlow) west lakeshore. (LG June 2005)     1,487 on 3 April 2004 (R. Spahn, Symonds) from Hamlin Beach SP to Kendall. (GOS, July 2004)     1,100 on 4 April 1958 (Kemnitzer) Webster Park to Sodus. (GNR, KB 8:46)     2,754 on 4 April 1996 (Symonds) off Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, May 1996)     1,210 on 10 April 1977 (R. Clark, Perrigo) along a 25-mile stretch of the west lakeshore from Braddock Bay to Point Breeze. (LG, May 1977; KB 28:95)        976 on 14 April 2003 (R. Spahn) Hamlin Beach to Kendall. (GNR)      Summer: Hardly ever reported in summer months. “About five years ago, a Holboell’s (Red-necked) Grebe remained on Hundred Acre Pond until well into June,” Edson noted in 1939. (WBR, 24 April 1939)     Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 22 September to 27 October, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 3 to 22 October. Subsequently, one on 7 August 2002 (Symonds) at Hamlin Beach SP set a new record early date. (KB 52:350) Also early: One there on 8 August 2004 (Symonds) was another “First of fall.” (GOS, October 2004)Eleven on 30 August 2003 at Hamlin Beach (KB53:346) was a startling count for so early in the season. In most years had departed by 25 November, with a late departure date of 10 December. Maxima in fall are usually much smaller than in spring. However, there have been an increasing number of double-digit counts from Hamlin Beach in recent falls, at least in part because of better optics and increased observer experience at spotting this birds.Totally unexpected were the 535 tallied by Bob Spahn on the water from Hamlin Beach west almost to the Lakeshore Road exit of the parkway on 27 November 2006. They included 373 off Hamlin Beach, another 40 off Troutburg and 112 off a pullout west of Kendall Road. (LG, January 2007; personal communication)Usually fall birds are in their basic, or nonbreeding plumage, but “quite a few” of the 535 were still in alternate plumage, Spahn noted. “That day and for the next week +, there were good numbers from the lakewatch and lots of occasions with the birds calling to each other like in the spring.”This one-day tally alone exceeded the total number of Red-necked Grebes observed for an entire fall season during the last three years of the Hamlin Beach Lakewatch project, when annual tallies ranged from 245 to 425. Peak numbers tended to fly by two days after a cold front, Ewald and Sherony noted. “Daily counts tend to be low. Like Horned Grebe, they are seen from close to far from shore. They tend to feed far from shore.” (Ewald and Sherony, pp. 19, 30-31)
Fall maxima:      24 on 14 October 1999 (Ewald, Sewell) Hamlin Beach SP. (GNR)      23 on 15 October 2006 (Symonds, S. Taylor) at Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, December 2006)      21 on 28 October 2005 (Symonds, mob) at Hamlin Beach (LG, December 2005).      48 on 8 November 1997 (Lanzone) at Hamlin Beach SP. (GNR)      42 on 9 November 1997 (Lanzone) Hamlin Beach SP. (GNR)        56 on 23 November 1997 (Lanzone) Hamlin Beach SP. (GNR)      52 on 26 November 2006 (Symonds) Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, January 2007)    535 on 27 November 2006 (R. Spahn) Hamlin Beach west to Kendall. (LG, January 2007)
Winter: Small numbers linger through winter. “Some years go by with few if any records of (red-necked) grebe in this area, and in other years they appear in the fall in October and are reported regularly all winter until they depart for the north in May,” John Brown noted in 1955. (BA, 1 December 1955) “Historically, red-necked grebes are most abundant in the harshest winter,” Bill Symonds observed in 1994. Two to four spent most of February that year at Slater Creek at Russell Station. (LG, March 1994) In 1952, Allen and Bea Kemnitzer observed Red-necked Grebes on the lake from Webster Park to East Bay from mid-October through the winter until late April 1953, Brown reported. (BA, 1 December 1955) “That year they were usually seen as singles or in pairs, but on two or three occasions in February and March, groups of four and five were seen.” During the 161 days Bill Symonds conducted a January to mid-March lakewatch at Hamlin Beach SP from 1994-2000, he recorded this species 30 percent of the days, averaging 2 per day. However, his maximum count was 72 on 4 February 1999. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 20)Recorded in our region on 8 of the 33 January Waterfowl Counts conducted from 1975 to 2007, including five of the last six years, with maximum counts of three in 1993, 1998 and 2007.
Winter maxima:       23 on 13 December 2004 (Symonds) Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, February 2005)       23 on 15 December 1999 (Ewald) Hamlin Beach SP. (LG February 2000)       78 on 19 December 1998 (Albanese, Symonds) Hamlin Beach SP. (LG February 1999)     173 on 23 December 2006 (Symonds, Davids) at Hamlin Beach SP. (LG, February 2007)       72 on 4 February 1999 (Symonds) Hamlin Beach SP. (Ewald and Sherony, p. 20)       72 on 28 February 1996 (Symonds) off Hamlin Beach SP. (GOS, April 1996)              Misc.
Horned Grebes aren’t the only members of this family to crash into buildings. In spring 1978 a Kodak foreman saw a duck-like bird crash head-on into Building 205 and drop down into a parking lot. The foreman went to its rescue – and was bitten for his efforts! – but managed to get it into a box and take it to the nearby offices of Neil Moon. Moon identified it as a Red-necked Grebe. They then took the grebe to the Genesee River near the company’s waste treatment plant north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge and released it into the stream. “There it swam off, apparently in good shape,” John Brown reported. (BA, 8 March 1978)

Eared Grebe

Podiceps nigricollis
It has been customary at annual meetings of The Federation of New York State Bird Clubs (now New York State Ornithological Association) to schedule field trips to the best birding spots in and around the host city. When the federation held its inaugural convention in Rochester in 1948, the “highlight” of one such field trip on 14 November, according to Beardslee and Mitchell, was an Eared Grebe in winter plumage off Braddock’s Bay. “It was seen at close range by a great many other experienced observers as it made its way along the Lake Ontario shore in a westerly direction, and was followed until it passed beyond Manitou Point.” (B&M: 85)  It was our first record here, except. . . Not everybody was convinced.John Brown, for example, later recalled he was one of the people “who are supposed to have seen that day their first Eared grebe.” (BA, 1 Nov 1956) It was “pointed out to us by some Buffalo experts who had seen it at closer range.” However, “some of us still weren’t quite sure. After all, we’d already seen a Red phalarope and Purple sandpipers that day, and we were a little uneasy about accepting the dusky little grebe far out on the lake as a species never before recorded in Monroe County.” The record was accepted anyway. Local birders would not have to wait very long for another record they could be more comfortable with, and a recent flurry of sightings suggests that today’s birders, with advanced optics, are becoming increasingly adept at finding this primarily western species here.
Background
This is the most abundant member of its family in North America and, indeed, in the world, notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. On our continent, it breeds throughout the interior of the western U.S. and northwards into Canada, preferring shallow alkaline lakes and ponds. For most of the year, Eared Grebe “vies with Wilson’s Phalarope as the species most closely associated with highly saline environments.” After breeding, most of the population moves either to Mono Lake, Calif., or Great Salt Lake, Utah, to feed on brine shrimp and alkali flies. This species undergoes incredible changes in muscle mass and organ size that, in effect, leave this bird flightless for as many as 9-10 months a year. An increase in sightings along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts may indicate an increase in the competence of observers, an expansion of its winter range, or both. North American population estimated at 4.1 million in fall 1997. (BNA 433: 1- 4, 19)
Local history
If there were doubts about the bird off Braddock Bay, there appeared to be none about the one observed by two experienced birders along the lake shore west of Manitou on 12 October 1951. This bird was surrounded by Horned Grebes for comparison and carefully studied by Walt Listman and Tom Barry at slightly more than 100 feet “for the better part of an hour,” Edson reported. (WBR, 22 October 1951) “In fact, the conditions under which the bird was studied were almost as good as having the bird in hand, seeming to leave no chance for error.”Starting with one 27-30 October 1956 (A. and B. Kemnitzer) at Webster Park (KB 6:123), sightings became almost annual. One was taken by a hunter in November 1964, Alfred Starling reported. “An enterprising museum man could have obtained the first Monroe County specimen last weekend at Braddocks Bay very easily, if he could have convinced the hunter who shot the grebe, that the eared grebe is quite unpalatable.” (WBR, 16 November 1964)Of all the good birds reported in May 1977, “the sprightly little Eared Grebe found at Island Cottage remains unchallenged,” Chip Perrigo noted. “It is still present as of early June and appears quite content dabbling about in the shallow marsh pool, although it is lonesome for Western kinship after making courting passes and being rebuffed by a group of indifferent Coot. I wish it the best of luck in Rochester as I am looking forward to adding the ‘Eared Coot’ hybrid to the county list.” (LG, June 1977)
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an irregular, very rare visitant. Note, however, that from 1991 through 2003 it was recorded every year but two.
Occurrence
There have been about 60 records since that original sighting in 1948. Most records – 39 – have occurred from October through January, with another spike – 13 records – in April and May. Discounting a May sighting that lingered to June 3, the only summer record was a breeding plumage adult found 28 July-12 August 1979 at one of the parkway borrow pit ponds in Kendall (BA, 8 Aug 1979) “contentedly dabbling away among the local ducks.” (KB 29: 216)Seven records October 2002-January 2003, most of which were reported off Hamlin Beach SP, were especially noteworthy. (LG, March 2003; KB 53: 49, 141)

Western Grebe

Aechmophorus occidentalis
On the drab, cold morning of 3 January 1954, three birders – Leo and Arthur Tanghe and Robert Dobson – found themselves at a high point on the west bank of Irondequoit Bay near Sea Breeze. Huge flocks of gulls and mergansers could be seen far out on the bay. “Two birds just off shore caught our attention. They were about 500 feet away,” the birders later wrote in the Goshawk. Through their binoculars and a 30X scope, “the outstanding field mark was the long white neck and contrasting black (in one bird) or gray (in the other) back. The bill was large, light yellow, and pointed upward slightly.” After carefully checking their Peterson guide, they realized they were looking at Western Grebes (GOS, January-February 1954). “The birds were preening themselves and at times the single white wing patch could be seen as the birds raised their wings.”
Background
Famed for their energetic, side-by-side courtship display, called “rushing,” these conspicuous water birds breed from southern Canada through the western U.S. to the Mexican plateau. They prefer freshwater lakes and marshes with extensive areas of open water bordered by emergent vegetation. Most U.S. breeders winter along the Pacific Coast. Stragglers can occur well to the east and southeast of this range. .Only since 1985 has the very similar Clark’s Grebe, formerly considered a color phase of Western, been recognized as a separate species. (BNA 26: 1, 3) This species “which is not found in New York furnished most of the grebes’ breasts so extensively used on ladies’ hats and muffs a few years ago,” Eaton (1910) noted (Eaton I:92).
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) considered this a “sporadic, very rare visitant.”
Occurrence
Fewer than a dozen records in our region. 1. The Monroe County annotated list indicates a sighting in “early May” 1944; also listed in Edson’s WBR for week ending May 5, but no location given. Not subsequently mentioned by Edson in reports of later sightings. (WBR, 9 May 1944) 2. One 5 December 1948 (Chapin, Miller, Atkins) off Durand Eastman Park (WBR, 13 December 1948; GNR). (NOTE: In subsequent reports, Edson listed this as the first sighting in our area. See, for example, WBR, 21 April 1958). 3. One on 19 November 1949 Braddock Bay, and one 20 November 1949 on Hundred Acre Pond, Mendon Ponds Park “possibly the same bird” (WBR, Nov. 28, 1949; AL, p. 14, but not mentioned in Goshawk). 4. Two on 3 January 1954 (Tanghes, R. Dobson) at Irondequoit Bay (KB 4:10; WBR, 11 January 1954 and 21 April 1958) 5. One adult 26 April 1962 (Kemnitzers) at Pultneyville (KB 12:91; GNR) 6. One 5 December 1965 (Kemnitzer, Listman, mob) off Oklahoma Beach, Webster, allowed “close and prolonged observation” with spotting scopes. “Several observers noted and commented on its repeated stabbing at nearby scoters with its long, sharp bill, both when swimming on the surface of the water, and from underwater,” Allen Kemnitzer reported (WBR 13 December 1965, KB 16:99) 7. One on 19 May 1985 (C. and R. Ladwig) on Lake Ontario off Morton, was accepted by NYSARC as either Western or Clark’s (KB 37:201) “but the facial/loral pattern and bill coloration was not described clearly enough to know which species was present…” 8. one 6 December 1986 (R. Spahn) off East Manitou Road, Greece and 20 December 1986 (R. Spahn) off Durand Eastman Park (KB 37:83). Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 37: 204) 9. One 22 October 1995 (Symonds) Hamlin Beach SP “following a cold front and rain the previous day” (KB 46:43; Ewald and Sherony, p. 30) 10. One flyby 2 January 2002 (D. Tetlow) Hamlin Beach SP (KB 52:150, 152) 11. One on 23 December 2007 (G. Lawrence et al) Greece. (LG, February 2008) (Note: Two 12 April 1958 (Charles F. H. Allen) on Hundred Acre Pond, Mendon (WBR, 21 April 1958; BA, 17 April 1958), were reported by Edson and Brown but not listed in GOS unpublished noteworthies, the Kingbird or Monroe County annotated list.) 12. One off Chimney Bluffs 11-20 March 2010 (Chuck Gibson, mob) 13. One off Irondequoit Bay Outlet 19 January 2013 (R. Spahn, J.Boettcher, others later a bit east and out).

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