ML616777276

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Steve G found the bird and i was able to watch it for around 50min. It was very active and dove frequently along the far (Northern?) shoreline. it came away from the shoreline twice while I watched, into a portion of the lake that was not reflecting the trees around the shore, and thus was in more contrastingly colored water, at these times. We also observed the bird swimming adjacent to a known Horned Grebe for less than a minute and then again before i left I could see them in the same field of view. The bird was smaller than the Horned Grebe, maybe 90% fo the size or slightly less. My numerical estimation is likely off, suffice it to say when we saw it together, both Steve and I were surprised at the very obvious difference in size. The two birds had very different plumage. The Horned Grebe present was very white, must have been beginning pre-alternate molt as it was especially white in the face. The unknown grebe had a white breast, grayish-white flanks (mostly sooty gray), a blackish back, a wide darkish collar under/in its throat, a sooty forecrown and a line of dark feathering leading from its crown, down the nape to the back. It's eye was red and bill seemed very small and uniformly gray at the distance we saw it. At greater distances it was easy to see two-toned coloring on Pied-billed Grebe bills, so i felt confident in calling this bird's bill uniformly colored. The "cheeks" or possibly auricular feathering was paler, a taupe-gray or possibly the beginning of alternate plumage (slightly yellowish). The bird did not give the quintessential big-peaked forecrown look we were hoping to see but activity, distance and molt all could have effected our ability to see this most obvious field mark clearly. It did not have the big block-head look of a Horned Grebe either.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF300mm f/4L IS USM

ISO

400

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

421 pixels x 281 pixels

Original file size

89.84 KB