Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 13:54:27 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Eared Grebes in Maryland Comments: cc: Virginia Birding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello all, With the recent appearance of an Eared Grebe at Ridgely WWTP, Caroline County, MD, I was reminded to send this post. ***Do not pass off any grebes at this time of year as Horned Grebes - the y are far more likely EARED GREBES!*** Since I took on the job as Regional Editor for MD and VA in 1995, I have = come to realize that Eared Grebes are under-reported in the Region and that ma ny are probably misidentified as Horned Grebes. Almost every year I have received one or more reports of Horned Grebes in late August or early September. The fact is, Horned Grebes typically do not arrive in the Reg ion until MID-OCTOBER and their movement does not peak until even later. There are a couple misconceptions about Eared Grebes. For starters, they are not THAT rare in Maryland and Virginia. I have seen more Eared Grebes in Maryland than Olive-sided Flycatchers, Connecticut Warblers, or even Yellow-bellied Flycatchers (all considered regular migrants). Is everyon e aware that South Holston Lake, in the Virginia mountains on the VA-TN bor der, regularly hosts a flock of over 20 Eared Grebes, starting in August!? A VA-BIRDs post of 10 Sep reported four birds there, the first of this fall. Those birds must pass through Maryland and Virginia. Eared Grebe arrivals can begin as early as early or mid-August and ANY non-Pied-billed Grebe seen during that time should be carefully scrutiniz ed. The Eared Grebe at Westinghouse (near Sandy Point, MD) in 1989 was origin ally identified as a Horned, and only re-identified when Bob Ringler, Jim Stas z, and others pointed out that Eared Grebe was more likely at this time of y ear. Migration will continue through October and into November, so grebes at those seasons should be carefully checked also, but I saw with confidence that any _Podiceps_ grebe seen in Maryland from mid-August to mid-October is MORE LIKELY an Eared than a Horned. Please check your grebes carefully a nd if you believe you have an early Horned, please document it and please sp read the word on MDOsprey or VA-BIRD either way. These migrant grebes often d o not tend to hang around long. Also, Eared Grebe may be more likely than Horned at INLAND locations in t he fall. When Horned Grebes do arrive, they tend for the most part, to be f ound at the coast or on Chesapeake Bay. Many Eared Grebe reports come from sm all lakes, ponds, or sewage plants in the mountains or Piedmont (there seems to be a regular passage through the mountains). Sewage Ponds seem to be especially attractive to Eared Grebes - while I have seen several Eared Grebes at these locations, I have yet to see a Horned Grebe at any sewage ponds. If you are looking at a grebe early in the season, or on a small inland pond, you will do well to check its field marks carefully. Eared Grebe reports seem to be increasing also. In 1997 I was able to do a lot of fall birding in Maryland and Jim Stasz and I found three Eared Gre bes in Maryland in the span of two weeks from 6-20 September: one at Hurlock Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), one at Funkstown WWTP (near Hagerstow n), and one at North Branch WWTP (near Cumberland). Some other locations of September Eared Grebes in Maryland include: Hart-Miller Island (many records), Piney Run Reservoir, a gravel pond in Prince George's County, Oakland WWTP (Garrett County), the Westinghouse property in a sheltered c ove along the Bay shore near Annapolis, Chincoteague NWR (several), the pond at the Oyster Dump (Northampton County, VA), Craney Island (VA Beach, VA), Patuxent Naval Air Station (1999, early October), and, last week, at Ridg ely WWTP in Caroline County for the past week. To separate Eared Grebe from Horned it is best to concentrate on bill sha pe. The bill of Eared Grebe always bevels upwards and any grebe with a bill t hat appears at all upturned is sure to be an Eared. Some Eared Grebes at thi s season will have the classic sharp peak on the head, but many will be juveniles which have a much more subtle head shape. In all though, the forehead is very steep, forming an almost 90 degree angle with this bill (like Barrow's vs. Common Goldeneyes). Horned Grebes tend to have a low forehead and any peak will be towards the rear of the head. The faces on Eared Grebes tend to be all dark, although some can approach the black cap/white neck pattern of Horned Grebe. Almost always though, Eared Greb es will have a dusky grayish neck and a sharply contrasting white throat. I have never seen a Horned Grebe at this season, so I don't know what their transitional and fresh juvenile plumages would like like, but to identify an Eared be sure to concentrate on bill shape, head shape, neck color, and l ook for the obvious white throat patch. So PLEASE, look carefully at your grebes at this season and share the wor d about either species. The presence of a Horned Grebe would be very interesting since it is almost unprecedented, while the presence of an Ea red Grebe would be of interest to many people who need it for their state or county lists! Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Annapolis, MD ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================