Beware! These Birds Are Seeing Red!

The Phoenix birding scene has been buzzing lately with reports of a very uncommon Red-Necked Grebe in Tempe Town Lake. The  lake itself is actually an engorged canal, fed both by the Rio Salado river and other canals that run through the Phoenix area. It hosts impressive numbers of waterfowl including Ruddy Ducks and Shovelers, and regularly pulls in unusual visitors like Eurasian Teal.



The Red-Necked Grebe had been seen and photographed throughout the week, so I decided to investigate and maybe add a new bird to my list. The Red-Neck didn't show, or rather, the Grebe. My neck got plenty red while scanning the water. There were plenty of other birds to observe, including Pied-Billed, Western, Clark's, and Eared Grebes, as well as Coots and Redheads. There was also a solitary Canvasback, a less common and more noticeable diving duck.

I made one bad miscalculation however, in failing to appreciate the size of the lake and the distance between the pedestrian bridges and the waterfowl. I'm getting too used to the little city ponds where everything is nice and close, relatively speaking. But you know, it is probably good I was so far away. As you can see from the pictures, these lake birds have rather evil looking red eyes, eyes of killers, eyes of relentless carnivores. Truly, I worried that every time one of the red-eyed predators dove underwater, it would reemerge and launch an attack...

This Eared Grebe is probably the smallest bird you'll find on the lake. But do not let down your guard. The apex predators--lions, tigers, bears--have killed far less humans than the little organisms in this world. No one will ever know how many lives the Eared Grebe has claimed.

Slightly less lethal but far more numerous is the American Coot. Compact and coal-colored, this red-eyed water-chicken descends upon the Phoenix area waterways in vast hordes, like the barbarians amassing outside of Rome.

The Clark's Grebe's and the similar looking Western Grebes (not photographed) keep well away from the bridges, but are definitely the bosses of the lake. Grebes are known for eating feathers, supposedly to help cushion their stomachs from fish bones. But really they do it to get a taste for other birds, which they eat by the baker's dozen, just for fun.

Redheads are beautiful birds and, as evidence by their not-blood-red-eye, are of a gentler breed. That doesn't mean you want to put your hands anywhere near that pastel blue beak though...I've lost 11 or 12 fingers making that mistake (I learn slowly).

But when it comes to the similarly colored Canvasback, forget about it! The largest of the diving ducks, this red-eyed ravager commands the utmost respect and distance. It is rumored that the U.S. government had to take a restraining order out on the Canvasback so it's not allowed within 500 feet of anything governmental...so dangerous is this bird.

Imminent danger aside, it was a lovely bit of power birding in the afternoon. With no sign of the Red-Necked Grebe I decided to head out and try beating the rush-hour traffic. It would've been too costly and lethal to stick around and catch the red-eye flight later on...

Getting the Heeby Jeeby Grebeeees

The last thirty days of birding have been loaded with Grebes. It all started with a pair of charming Least Grebes down at Lake Pena Blanca in mid February, and ended with the unexpected but unmistakable sighting of a Horned Grebe at Sahuarita Lake on March 15th. Prior to the summer of 2011 I had only the Pied-Billed Grebe on my life list. Since then, I've had the pleasure of seeing it and all six other North American Grebe species. I cannot say I was expecting to see all seven Grebes this year (or necessarily ever). I definitely was not expecting to see them all in Arizona.

The Pied-Billed was my first Grebe, so it seems appropriate to start with him (also, its about my only clear Grebe photo).

Although we get plenty of winterfowl in the Phoenix area, we're usually short-changed on Grebe species. But for the last month or so the western-most section of the Tempe Town Lake has been loaded with these slender swimmers. Phoenix area birders have been very fortunate to see Eared Grebes, Clark's, Western, Pied-Billed, and one very unusual Red-Necked Grebe all in the same body of water.

I photo-documented the Eared and Clark's Grebes, albeit quite blearily, as a part of the red-eyed bird alert last week: 

The Western Grebes are the most visible of the Tempe waterfowl. They seem to be more confident and active, often diving, fishing, and displaying in the later afternoon. It's only appropriate. After all, they are the largest and mightiest of the North American Grebes.

The Least Grebe occupies the other end of the spectrum. They are diminutive both in stature and personality, though they are still thrilling to observe.

The single Red-Necked Grebe has been the big attraction in Tempe town lake. It's one of only a few recorded sightings in the Phoenix area, and for good reason. Look at the bird's range map (courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology). There's really no reason for it to be anywhere near the Sonoran Desert.

As luck would have it, the sightings were occurring just 5 minutes away from where I work. With the exception of the bolder American Coots, the birds all stayed well away from the pedestrian bridge over Tempe's grand canal. The prospect of picking the Red-Necked out of a mass of distant, folded up waterfowl seemed daunting as first. However, the Red-Necked liked to hang out with the more conspicuous Western Grebes, and this made the surveillance area more specific. Once the area was narrowed down, the Red Neck's smaller frame decurved bill, and ruddy neck allowed for a straight-forward identification.

Here is by far the rarest bird on Tempe Town Lake. See how he conducts himself with much pomp and circumstance as he...investigates...swamp grass. Perhaps he was sent here from the far north, conducting a southwestern aquatic botany survey for the Society of Scientific Grebes. I've heard crazier migration stories anyway...

He got his samples and I got a cool new bird, as well as a red neck of my own.

Now that I had some great views of the Red-Necked Grebe, I figured my winterfowling was done and my attention moved on to other birds. It was a great bit of luck then that my family and I decided to check out Sahuarita Lake while making a day trip to Tucson. We were disappointed to find out that is was actually a small, man-made pond surrounded by houses in a little master-planned community. We were expecting a more rustic seen with lots of marsh and riparian birds, but this was just the standard neighborhood fish pond. The joke was on me though, for there in the center of the little lake, insulated by eight or nine American Coots, was a shy and solitary Horned Grebe. 

Another unusual visitor to Arizona, the Horned Grebe can be told apart from the Eared Grebe by the lack of black on its neck and back of its head. The Horned Grebe made the Arizona birding listservs, but for the last several days I had not been paying attention. It was a great surprise then to find this gem and round out my list of North American Grebe species. 

I'm amazed by the birding opportunities offered in urban/suburban environments. Of course, nothing beats hiking out in the wild, and I doubt the Least Grebes will ever turn up within city limits. Nonetheless, I found six out of the seven Grebes in urban ponds or lakes. It has been a great month of birding, one of good accomplishments and great aesthetic satisfaction. 

Western Grebe

The Western Grebe is the largest North American grebe, but is only noticeably different from its cousin, the Clark's Grebe, in a slightly greener bill and the extension of its black cap down over the eye and up to the cere, and the two can often be seen intermingling.

Although lots of range maps don't show them straying too far from the coastal states, there's a regular supply of Western and Clark's Grebes in the Phoenix Area, and they're regulars at the Tempe Town Lake.