I was thrilled yesterday to see my first Horned Grebe in mostly breeding 
plumage!  And within the city limits of my hometown, in a pond completely 
surrounded by parking lots and a road nonetheless.  Its head plumage was 
complete, all black and with the full beautiful golden tufts!  What an 
exotic-looking bird for Ohio.  Its neck and sides were rufous but still 
mottled with a little white, and the lower part of its breast was still 
mostly white.

I spent quite awhile by the pond watching it and getting some photos, and 
the bird wasn't that shy at all.  Although I did observe something I'd 
never seen before...it tucked its head completely under its wing as I 
approached, and then soon began paddling away from me without ever raising 
its head!  I saw its feet moving under the water's surface, and the 
supposedly sleeping grebe blindly traveled at least twenty feet away at a 
pretty good pace, changing directions and all!  I got some video of it 
doing this...pretty funny.

I will check the pond again today, and I'll be very surprised if it's 
there again. I'll post an update later today either way, but just in case 
any local people are in the area before that, here's the directions: The 
hospital, Fisher-Titus Medical Center, is on SR 250 on the south side of 
Norwalk.  The pond is located in front of the four-story new addition, 
which is behind the older part of the hospital.  You can access the pond 
either by turning into the hospital entrance (on 250 right across from 
Burger King) and following that road around the back towards the right to 
the new addition, or by turning off Shady Lane Drive (the next road north 
off 250). 

The pond was created during the construction of the addition a few years 
ago.  I'd never seen any birds there when I happened to drive by before, 
and never thought to look there purposely, but I will definitely start to 
do that now.  Though I realize this is quite a fluke, and maybe the Horned 
Grebe will end up being the only bird other than Canadas and Mallards at 
that pond for the rest of the year!  The grebe was there just after noon 
when I first saw it, and still there around 4pm when I came back with my 
daughter after school to sit by the pond.  She's five, and really got a 
kick out of watching it through the binoculars, as it was constantly 
turning its head back and forth with its fancy "hairstyle", and diving 
repeatedly.  

I'd been really wanting to see a Horned Grebe in breeding plumage ever 
since I first saw a photo of one in the Audubon field guide, and it was by 
complete chance that I decided to turn into the hospital parking lot 
yesterday.  I wasn't looking for birds at the time, but while driving on 
an adjacent street, I happened to notice something I thought could've been 
a hawk perched in a small field nearby.  So on a whim, I decided to pull 
into the parking lot to turn around and face the field.  Turned out it was 
not a hawk, but looking for one bird led to another...as I then barely 
noticed out of the corner of my eye a very small bird floating in the pond 
by the parking lot.  There were no other birds there except two sleeping 
Canada Geese in the grass, and I certainly didn't expect to see what I did 
when I brought the binoculars to my eyes!  I'd be happy to share photos or 
video with anyone who's interested.

Happy Spring everyone!

Alicia Elmer

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