ML647529079

Observation details

Four of these five were sitting on lumps in the water that looked like nests, while the fifth was swimming nearby. One moved off its lump at one point, which allowed me to see that the lump appeared to consist of greenish plant stems packed together, just like a grebe nest. Suspicious! I think it seems very likely that these are nests, unprecedented though that would be for this location, so I think the "Occupied Nest" breeding code is warranted. I'm interested to hear follow-up observations of these birds' nesting efforts. I wondered if this would be an unusually late date for Eared Grebes to begin nesting, as the Eared Grebes nesting in Santa Clara County this year have had young out of the nest for a couple weeks. But Birds of the World says: "Generally late May–early Jul, but ranges from Apr to Aug throughout range in Canada, U.S. Large variation in timing of nesting, even within local ranges." Also, "Three hours is sufficient to build a platform," so maybe these nests just appeared today. In addition to seeing the nests, I enjoyed hearing them calling a bit.