Late on Saturday 3rd March, I briefly observed a 'Little Grebe' on
some ephemeral water on Roebuck Plains near the Broome Bird
Observatory. I have been out of email range since, so I haven't been
able to report. Chris Hassell from Broome looked for it shortly
after I had seen it but ran out of light. He did see a grebe but
could get little detail on it.
Chris and others searched for it on the Sunday morning. Nothing was
found. The number of associated ducks (Grey Teal, Hardhead and
Pacific Black Duck) had also dropped indicating that the waterfowl
were moving around. It has not been seen since, but there hasn't
been much time for people to look.
The taxonomy is interesting. The IOC have now split Little Grebe,
and the new species Tricoloured Grebe is the closest to the north of
Australia, and hence it is very likely to be this species. BARC has
been looking into the previous records of "Little Grebe" in Australia
(Darwin & Qld) as to whether they are Tricoloured Grebes.
This is the first record for Western Australia.
I haven't had time to look yet - What are the differences between
Little Grebe and Tricoloured Grebe?
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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