Tuesday 5 April 2011

Western Grebe Toronto



Thanks to Bernie Monnette for posting the sighting. The bird was easy to find right where it was said to be at Colonel Sam Smith Park. Almost too easy!

I first found it on its own at the mouth of the marina to the lake - this was at 5:45. Coordinates: 43.588668, -79.516350

But within five minutes it had swam several hundred meters west from the park and approaching a flock of Red-necked Grebes. Hugh Currie and I searched for it from the base of Twenty Eighth street for about 30 minutes only to find that it had returned to the mouth of the marina.

I returned there and had great looks of the bird right up until 7:45.

A scope isn't necessary if the bird is in the marina but if it decides to swim out into the lake a scope may become handy.

Other birds include several hundred Red-necked Grebes (I estimated 400) mostly west of the park. An Eastern Phoebe and a Pied-billed Grebe inside the marina area.



It was bobbing up and down in the waves as it sailed away from me.

In the right light the back of the neck can look fairly red disguising it as a Red-necked Grebe