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Red-Necked Grebes
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
On February 2, 2003 while observing ducks on the St. Clair River, I caught sight of one opposite Marshy Creek Park north of Port Lambton. It was a significant sighting for two reasons. Firstly, they are almost unheard of on the St. Clair River. Secondly, this sighting was in the dead of winter. To see one in the winter in Ontario is a treat. It stayed in that spot for a couple of hours that day.
The ice conditions changed daily, sometimes entirely choking up the river. Remarkably, on March 1, I again spotted the grebe in the same location. On a subsequent trip, March 4, I observed what I assumed to be the same bird, off Port Lambton dock.
The March 1 sighting was interesting because later in the day I found out that many Red-necked Grebes were reported in Ontario. It may have been an unusual early migration. This was not good news, because grebes need a large open body of water to take off once they are down. They cannot take off from the ground or ice like some other waterfowl.
Also in the news that day were reports of "groundings" of Red-necked Grebes. A couple of grebes were stranded because they had mistakenly landed on ice thinking it was water. One was in northern Muskoka, and the other was in Temiskaming. These birds were subsequently rescued and returned to open water.
Reports also that day included large numbers on Lake Ontario in different spots. Single records were reported in various places later on, such as the Detroit River on March 5. One was seen on the Thames River in east London on March 8.
As mentioned before, Red-necked Grebes can be seen in numbers during migration times. Good spots to see these include western Lake Ontario (Hamilton, Buffalo), and off Cabot Head on the Bruce Peninsula in the spring. The Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory conducts surveys during migration from Cabot Head to Lion's Head. Last spring, they recorded 306 on April 24, and then 259 on April 27.
The Red-necked Grebe is common out west, but is a rare nester in Ontario. They have nested in northcentral Ontario, Manitoulin Island, at Luther Marsh north of Guelph, and remarkably in Bronte Harbour on Lake Ontario near Burlington. This latter occurrence is noteworthy because they nested on floating tires in a busy marina. It is also the most southerly nesting record in Ontario. Young have been successfully raised there. Some were not so successful because nesting sites were at a premium. Observers report "egg-dumping" in which one female will deposit her eggs in another's nest due to lack of a nesting site. This has happened too late in the season for successful hatching. The grebes return to this location every year without fail.
The Red-necked Grebe in breeding plumage is quite remarkable. The sexes are virtually identical in appearance all year long. In winter they change to a non-descript grey and white.
