Eared Grebe / Podiceps nigricollis

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has released a new Bird Photo ID program, called Merlin Bird Photo ID. I tried it with a photo of a Mountain Bluebird and a female Red-winged Blackbird and was impressed that it identified both birds accurately. So far, it works for 400 North American birds. Apparently, it does not work on tablets or mobile devices at this time. For best results, use a computer with a recent version of Chrome or Safari. Give it a try!

merlin.allaboutbirds.org/photo-id/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab...

On 26 April 2015, I spent the day with a fair-sized group of friends, at Frank Lake. The weather was beautiful and, for once, not windy. Frank Lake and the surrounding area is one of my favourite places to spend a day or half a day.

On a trip like this one, there are a lot of the birds that I don't see, as I don't use binoculars. Also, my interest is not to see as many species as possible, but to hopefully come across a few birds close enough to photograph. Fortunately, at the bird blind/hide, a pair of Eared Grebes was within camera range. Every once in a while, they stayed still for a few seconds before continuing their constant swimming and diving. The light was such that, much of the time, you couldn't tell that they had red eyes - and really it's the eyes (and the golden "ear" feathers) that add so much beauty to these birds. The eyes always make me think of red buttons : ) This Grebe is the most abundant Grebe in the world, and it occurs on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eared_Grebe/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_grebe

I will add the final list of the 51 species seen, complied by our Leader, Tony Timmons. Probably not of much interest to most people, but it does help my memory. Many thanks, as always, Tony, for a very successful and most enjoyable day! Really appreciate your giving up a precious weekend day to take us out there.

"The birds put on a spectacular show for the 19 participants on the Frank Lake trip today. We tallied 51 species. (Anne's note: on this trip one year ago, we found 53 species.)

Expected species were present in pretty good numbers; most noteworthy being American Avocet (200+) and White-faced Ibis (120). Thousands of ducks were on the Lake.

Thanks to Dan Parliament and Al Borgardt for scoping birds and sharing sightings with the group.

Before the start of the trip, Rose Painter spotted two Long-billed Curlew near Blackie. Later in the day, we searched for the birds without success.

Eared Grebe 250
Western Grebe 20
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Black-crowned Night Heron 1
White-faced Ibis 120
Canada Goose
Swan sp. 12
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser 2 f.
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier 3
Swainson's Hawk 3
Gray Partridge 4
American Coot
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 10
American Avocet 200+
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 17
Franklin's Gull 1000
Bonaparte's Gull 10
Ring-billed Gull 5
California Gull 20
Rock Pigeon
Great Horned Owl ( 3 ad. + 3 owlets )
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow 60
Bank Swallow 1
Marsh Wren 4
American Robin
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark 5
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird 1
House Sparrow

Tony Timmons"