Day 33 and 36: Rare Grebe and Hearing a Falcon

A Red-Necked Grebe was released by the Wild Bird Fund onto the Reservoir on Wednesday. This bird can only count on my year list if it is active, healthy, and not attracted to humans. On Thursday, I went to find it for myself, which I easily did at the south pumphouse. The grebe was diving and acting completely normal, so I could count it (#56). This isn't the first time one has been on the Reservoir, as during winter/spring 2014, there was a large irruption of these birds due to the Great Lakes being frozen, and a few birds spent some time on the Reservoir. On Sunday, I also added a heard-only American Kestrel (#57) in Chinatown sounding an alarm towards the Cooper's Hawk hunting pigeons above the streets. A bit ironic that I added a falcon on the day they were playing in the Superbowl! Unfortunately, they lost in what was probably the most intense game ever. Hopefully they'll win next year!