76 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
AMERICAN EARED GREBE: Colymbus nigricollis californicus (Heermann) 
Plate 3 
Description .— Length: 12-14 inches, wing 5.2-5.5, bill about .8-1. Bill wider 
than high at base. Adult summer plumage: Median crest , head and neck black , drooping 
ear tufts golden brown or tawny; back blackish, wings with white patch; sides brown, 
Photograph by Robert B. Rockwell 
Fig. 3. Nest of Eared Grebe 
Among the cat-tails and tules 
breast si lvery white,• iris red, eyelids orange. Adult winter and young plumage: 
ar tufts wanting, upperparts and sides slaty (young browner and colors duller)* 
throat and underparts white. 7 
Comparisons. The Horned and Eared Grebes are difficult to distinguish in the 
winter and young plumages except by the shape of the bill (see p. 75). 
Range.— -Western N orth America. Breeds from southern interior of British 
MeZo noShe at A ° Lakc ’,^ d Ma “ toba south to northern Iowa, northern New 
Mexico, northern Arizona, and Lower California; winters from Washington Nevada 
and Texas, but especially Pacific coast south to Cape St. Lucas and Guatemala. ’ 
easftnr | tet T ,,S '7 The , I ' :are<l GrebC ' S a Western s P ecies > Ceding abundantly 
east to Colorado and rarely to Iowa and south to New Mexico and northern Arb 
New MexicVhneTnT- r L,,is Valle y of Col ora«lo just north of the 
New Mexico line, and is supposed to be equally common in northern New Mexico 
