Over the last week or so I've been hearing the reports of 2 rare grebes at Lake Anna in Louisa County of Virginia. One is a Red-necked Grebe at "Dike 3" and another is a Western Grebe that got injured and re released near Lake Anna State Park.
Yesterday I made the trip in hopes of finding both grebes, but the Red-necked Grebe was the real target as it would be a life bird for me and I had gotten a Western Grebe in California. We arrived at Dike 3 with plenty of daylight to search for the bird. Upon my arrival a pair of Bonaparte's Gulls in addition to many Ring-bills greeted me. Bonaparte's Gull is a year bird so a success already! I was then at 199 bird species for the year, so if I then got the Red-necked Grebe it would be #200. I searched for probably 20 minutes and saw birds that weren't year birds but nice ones none the less like Common Loons and Pied-billed and Horned Grebes. Then..I spotted a medium-size grebe out on the lake..could it be the Red-necked? I got a good look and was 98 percent that I had found year bird #200. But the look was quick and I was not 100 percent. We walked another 20+ minutes before I re spotted the bird but then I yelled to my mama as we were getting ready to go "I got it!". True success, I watched it for a good 10 minutes and without any question it was the Red-necked Grebe! I observed it's features and saw the unique colored chest and even got a look at the beak.
Then we went to look for the Western Grebe, as it would be a great bird to see and a state bird for me. We got a Horned Grebe that caused a bit of studying but it did turn out to be a Horned.
Luckily, I got the life bird as well as Bonaparte's Gull as a year bird.
Great day indeed.
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