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These elegant little grebes are best appreciated in their flashy breeding plumage, shown above at left and on this page. This individual was at Bolsa Chica wetlands in coastal Orange County in southern California. We don't usually see breeding plumage on horned grebes in California, but it lingered later than usual in spring before moving north to nest. In winter,horned grebes are a more subdued black-gray-white combination
without the nifty head plumes, as in the other images (photographed at Bolsa Chica wetlands, San Diego, and near Palo Alto (all in California). They look a lot like eared grebes at this time, but have rounder heads, shorter bills, and the hint of a white spot in front of the eye - which remains blazing red throughout the year.
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