I went down to check the grebes around noontime. There was one winter-plumage Horned Grebe, and one breeding-plumage Horned Grebe, so at first, I took them to be your pair. While walking around the west end of the lake, I spotted a third grebe. It took a while staring at it, as it was very uncooperative (6 seconds up, 30 seconds down, repeatedly, and always with its back to me). It was quite mottled-looking, but I finally decided it was an Eared Grebe in transitional plumage. When I finally got onto the North side, I got the definitive look in the scope to confirm this-- the yellow 'ears' are just coming in, the eye was bright red, and the rest of the bird looked like it just crawled out of a coal pit-- all smeary and smudgy looking. But anyway, it's an Eared.
There is also a breeding-plumage Horned on Crown Hill lake right now. Crown Hill, unfortunately, is VERY low, and the pond back in the bird sanctuary is completely dry.
Dave Cameron
Denver
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