SUNGREBE Status - 11/21/08

Hi all. We've now spent 3 full days waiting for the Sungrebe to return to the public areas it was seen a week ago Thursday and last Tuesday. NO such luck. The bird may have moved, passed on, or simply be hanging out in the closed area, though refuge personnel have been looking for it with no success. Doesn't mean it's not there, could be very difficult to spot. Anyhow we'll keep our eyes open and report daily on any activity (calls will go out much sooner if anything positive develops).


This female Sungrebe was photographed on 11/18 at Audio Stop 8 on the Marsh Loop. It It was seen and photographed earlier (11/13) about a mile downstream of this location, but on the same ditch.

Sungrebe belongs to a family with only three species worldwide. Called finfoots, they are actually more closely related to the rails than to grebes. The Sungrebe is often called the American Finfoot. The species ranges from northern South America through Central America and up the east coast of Mexico to almost central Tamaulipas, not far (150-200 miles) south of Brownsville, TX. There are anecdotal reports of sightings as close as 100 miles south of Brownsville. There are no previous modern records of Sungrebe in the United States. Some of the old time (early to mid 1800's) ornithologists mention Sungrebes, but evidently this does no constitute a valid record without more details and prefereably a specimen.