This past June my wife and I traveled to Brooklyn to visit with our son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids. If you know me you know that I never go anywhere without my binoculars and as we were nearing the end of our trip I took one last walk along the lake in Prospect Park and spotted an alternate plumage pied-billed grebe. Did not think much of it as here in Oregon pied-billed grebes are a dime a dozen. It was sitting still so shot MANY photos of the bird (see below) hoping it would drift a bit closer (did not recall ever getting a good photo of a pied-billed grebe). Anyway, entered it into my eBird list and that was that.

Apparently not. About a week later I got an email from the eBird coordinator for Brooklyn asking if I was really certain about what I had reported seeing? He continued saying that pied-billed grebes are not seen in the area this time of year (June). I responded by telling him that I had good diagnostic photos if he was interested in seeing that and that this species is common fodder in Oregon. He asked if I would update my list with a photo, which I did, and sent one directly to him as well. He thanked me and let me know that my sighting was on the second on record for Brooklyn in the month of June. The moral of the story is never assume a bird common to you is common elsewhere when you are traveling.

Below are a few other photos from my exploration of Prospect Park. Cheers!