Clark’s Grebe

Clark's Grebe swimming in the small lake and looking toward the camera with both red eyes clearly visible.
Clark’s Grebe, San Joaquin Marsh, Irvine, CA, June 18, 2023
Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-500; f/10; 1/320 sec.

This page is for the Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii). I was taking shots of a Caspian Tern colony and these grebes kept swimming by, so given the opportunity, I took many pictures. As I started reviewing them, I realized there were two different species, the Clark’s Grebe and the Western Grebe, and sorted accordingly. They look nearly identical except for where the black cap ends on their face. For Clark’s Grebes, it stops just above the eye. For Western Grebes, is stops just below the eye. It is a subtle difference, but make it fairly easy to distinguish between the two species.

Clark's Grebe swimming in the small lake.
Clark’s Grebe, San Joaquin Marsh, Irvine, CA, June 18, 2023
Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-500; f/10; 1/320 sec.
Clark's Grebe swimming on the pond.
Clark’s Grebe, San Joaquin Marsh, Irvine, CA, June 19, 2023
Canon EOS R5 with Canon 100-500 mm L-series lens with 1.4x Teleconverter; 700 mm; ISO-1600; f/10; 1/800 sec.