Young Aust Grebes & Hoary-headed Grebes. Rather alike...

[Michael Lenz via Canberrabirds <>]

Hoary-headed Grebes are quite nomadic.  They tend to appear on recently flooded wetlands. This is also reflected locally. For example, when Lake Bathurst and the Morass  filled a max. of 1000 birds were recorded in Mar 21. In Oct 21 they were nesting on the Morass (46 pairs), all nests flooded and in the end only 1 pair managed to raise a brood.

The recent filling of Lake George also attracted some grebes (195 at Badcoe VC rest area, and 5 nests) in Dec 21, and pairs were also nesting  on the pond at Lake Road.

Regarding, separation of the 2 small grebe species: the rusty-tinged flanks of Australasian Grebe versus the grey flanks of the Hoary-headed Grebe in non-breeding plumage seems to work very well (although the ABG states that "most" A. grebes show the feature, so not 100% as the only criterium).

Michael Lenz

On Sat, 8 Jan 2022 at 13:15, Kim Farley via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Interesting Martin.  So not just currently scarce around the ACT then.

Kim

On Sat, Jan 8, 2022 at 12:54 PM Martin Butterfield <> wrote:

The number of Hoary-headed Grebes at the Mallacoota Wastewater Treatment Plant is way below normal (12 vs 100+) .  My understanding is that the same apples on the Gippsland Lakes.  Presumably they have all headed off to soggy bits of the Inland.  The same applies to Eurasian Coots, which totally disappeared from East Gippsland in about July.

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/

On Sat, 8 Jan 2022 at 11:49, Kim Farley via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Looking at Grebes today at Isabella Pond, I briefly identified a juvenile Aust Grebe as a Hoary-headed Grebe. The youngster was about the same size as its Aust Grebe parent - so not a tiny fluffy and stripey baby.  At first glance it looked like an adult Hoary-headed. But a closer look showed that the head didn't have the fine white streaks of a Hoary-headed.  And it didn't have the "big headed" look of an adult Hoary-headed. The other giveaway is that it is more usual to see Hoary-heads in groups rather than just the one. 

Can I ask eBirders to take extra care with their Hoary-headed Grebe records at present? Places where they are often readily seen (such as Isabella Pond or West Belconnen Pond) don't seem to have many or any at present. 

Kim

ACT eBird reviewer

 

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