[EBB Sightings] Pied-billed Grebe chicks

Hi E.B. Birders,

Yesterday morning, 19 Feb 2005, I watched and tape
recorded the vocalizations of 2 Pied-billed Grebe
chicks on Briones Reservoir, east of the Overlook
parking lot.  They were begging and being fed by an
adult.  

Although I could see warm brown breast feathers, the
rest of their body feathers were grayish-brown and
spikey. The facial pattern was typically "tiger
patterned" with reddish-pink lores, and they appeared
to be about 2/3 the size of the adult.

Emilie Strauss clued me in to the fact that
Pied-billed Grebes can breed Dec. - Feb. in Southern
California
(in Cogswell's Water Birds of CA, pg. 67), but I've
never seen chicks this early in the year here in the
Bay Area. Has anyone else?  

All the Best Birding,

Denise Wight
Martinez, CA