Western and Clark's Grebes together
Aechmophorus sp.
Western or Clark's Grebe · San Diego · 6 March 2026
Two grebes riding close together on a San Diego lake, and on a closer look not the same species. Western and Clark's Grebes share the big lakes of the West, breeding side by side in the same reed beds and wintering on the same coast, and mixed pairs still turn up.
On the left bird the black of the cap comes down to enclose the red eye and the bill is a dull greenish-yellow: a Western. On the right the eye sits in white, with the black stopping above it, and the bill is a brighter orange-yellow: a Clark's. The two were treated as one species until 1985, and whether this is a pair or two neighbours is not something the photograph can settle.
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