Nothing rare to report. But, given a lackluster Fall migration of warblers through our place, so far, was nice to hear the cottonwoods filled with single note “chirps” today. Groups of a dozen, or so, Yellow-rumped Warblers, many juvenile, have been coming through all day. Also, White-crowned Sparrows & staging American Robins. Sev wks ago, the first to leave were the Yellows, then Wilson’s & a handful of MacGillivray’s & Gray Catbirds. No Townsend’s, sadly. And, until today, numbers have been pitiful, on the order of 3-4 birds at a time. Certainly, not the mixed groups of 50+ warblers that we used to get, during Fall migration.
I think it might be a juvenile horned grebe. The juveniles of both horned and eared look similar, at least according to Sibley. However the juv horned grebe has a light spot between the eye and bill with a dark line running from the eye to the bill, which I think I see in your photo. The juvenile horned also has an oval head while the juvenile eared has a squared head. The head of the bird in your photo looks more oval to me.
This photo of a what I think is a horned grebe (next to a RUDU) was taken at Emmett Wastewater Treatment Plant 9/12/21. I have not been able to ID it. The eye color told me it was a horned grebe but just didn’t feel confident. There were others that definitely looked like horned grebes and eared grebes in a mix with RUDUs. Would love someone to tell me what it is and why.
