A SUNGREBE IN NEW MEXICO 
Figures 2-S. The Sungrebe was relocated at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on 18 November 2008 (here), where it was seen actively feeding on insects as it swam along a canal. 
The buffy cheeks identify it as a female. Photographs by Jerry If. OMenette! (Figures 2-4) and Stephen M. Fettig (Figure 5, lower right). 
or date and thus is not credible. Entirely 
unexpected, therefore, was one seen and 
photographed in New Mexico on 13 and 18 
November 2008. 
Field encounter and conditions 
On 13 November 2008, King and a col- 
league were photographing wildlife at 
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife 
Refuge along the “Marsh Loop” road south 
of the refuge headquarters. At about 1100 
MST, as they crossed a small east-west-ori- 
ented canal, King saw a small waterbird 
swimming in the canal. Parking the car and 
walking back to the canal, she began pho- 
tographing the bird, which by that time was 
swimming rapidly away (Figure 1). As the 
bird continued to feed farther upstream 
along the canal, she returned to the car and 
continued to tour the refuge. Realizing she 
had photographed a species unfamiliar to 
her, she went to the refuge visitor center 
that afternoon for help in identification. 
Using several North American field guides, 
it was concluded the mystery bird was an 
immature Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps 
grisegena); copies of her photographs were 
left with the refuge staff. 
On 17 November, King emailed photo- 
graphs of the bird to Fettig, who, upon con- 
sulting Mexican field guides, correctly iden- 
tified the bird as a Sungrebe and recognized 
the significance of the discovery. By that 
evening, he had alerted a number of New 
Mexico Ornithological Society members to 
the discovery, including Oldenettel, who 
confirmed the photographic identification. 
On 18 November, a small group, includ- 
ing Oldenettel and Fettig, assembled about 
0800 MST at the site where the Sungrebe 
had been photographed five days earlier, but 
after some two hours with no sign of the 
bird, the birders began to search farther 
afield. From that point, the Marsh Loop con- 
tinues south before looping back to the 
north, and Oldenettel followed that route, 
eventually to where the road begins to par- 
allel a small north-south-oriented canal, 
where at about 1000 MST he spotted the 
Sungrebe feeding along the canal bank. He 
notified others of the find, and soon a small 
group converged on the site to observe and 
photograph the bird. The site is about 1.6 
km northeast of the 13 November site and is 
the upstream portion of the same canal, af- 
ter it makes a right-angle turn to the north. 
The Sungrebe remained under observa- 
tion off and on through the day, as it moved 
upstream and then downstream along the 
canal. By early afternoon, it was spending 
its time well away from people, along the 
southernmost portion of the canal visible 
from the road but was some 200 m or more 
into a restricted area, where it would be lost 
from view for considerable periods. It was 
last viewed by a group including Oldenet- 
tel, Parmeter, and J. Nelson-Moore from 
about 1630 MST until the light began to 
fade. During the day, over 20 observers 
watched the Sungrebe, and several hundred 
images were obtained (Figures 2-5). In ad- 
dition, Oldenettel and Fettig obtained 
video of the bird. 
On 19 November, an ever-shifting con- 
tingent of birders (including Williams and 
Oldenettel) maintained watch along the 
canal from dawn to dusk, but the Sungrebe 
was not found along the canal or anywhere 
else on the public-access portions of the 
refuge that day or any day thereafter. Con- 
founding the situation was lack of any ac- 
cess to restricted-access portions of the 
refuge, rigidly enforced by refuge person- 
nel, which by that time was hosting its an- 
nual “Festival of the Cranes.” On 24 No- 
vember, the refuge allowed limited access 
to the restricted area along the canal, but 
the group that surveyed the area, including 
Oldenettel, did not find the bird. Birders 
continued to search for the Sungrebe 
through November and beyond; occasional 
rumors of rediscovery, including by refuge 
personnel, were either unconfirmed or de- 
termined to be Pied-billed Grebes (Podi- 
lymbus podiceps). 
Most observers reported the bird was 
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