Clark's Grebe in Lake County
2015-12-07

'Casual' in Minnesota - Five or fewer records in Lake County for the Winter season

This photo was taken at the Wildwoods rehabilitation center in Duluth after the bird was rescued by Nancy Hansen and Bailey Petersen of the DNR along Lake County Road 2 just north of Two Harbors. It was lying along the shoulder of the road and reported to the local DNR office by someone who was driving by, so it may have mistaken the paved county road for a body of water and was grounded, something that occasionally occurs with disoriented water birds. Note especially the bright orange-yellow bill, which is characteristic of Clark's Grebe, and the white extending above the eye and on the lores (which would be more extensive in breeding plumage); the whitish flanks are also suggestive of a Clark's rather than a Western grebe. This is not only an unusually late date (apparently two months later than the previous late date), but to my knowledge this represents only the second record ever in the northeastern quarter of Minnesota, with the previous record from Duluth in May 1987.

Photo by Nancy Hansen (posted by Kim Eckert, with permission of the photographer).