San Diego stylized loony sculpture

After leaving the zaniness of Las Vegas, I was in the mood for something a bit less artificial and happily flew off to San Diego! Upon landing I pondered a bit over this one. A nice sculpture but the birder in me kept thinking are these things loons or long grebes?... and why in the world has one speared a giant silvery egg?... To get to the bottom of this, I headed straight to the San Diego river to see if I could observe anything similar.

Eared Grebe digiscoped with Leica APO Televd scope & C-Lux 2 camera, San Diego, CA

I found similar candidates right away but they seemed too slight, were the wrong color, and showed no interest in shiny silver eggs so I figured Eared Grebe was not the right candidate. The very similar Horned Grebe (seen below with a Ruddy Duck) seemed too compact and showed more white than in the sculpture as well, so it was quickly eliminated.

Horned Grebe winter plumage,digiscoped in San Diego River 2/6/08, w/ Ruddy Duck

There were numerous Western Grebes floating in small flotillas with their heads tucked on their backs here as well. They looked to have the right proportionsbut were slightly less gray. I held some shiny silver quarters up but they showed no interest. They just continued riding the current with heads tucked tight. I figured I should continue to look.

Brant digiscoped in Mission Bay, CA 2/6/08 - Leica APO Televid 77 & C-Lux 2

The Brant were long enough through the neck and showed similar color on the flanks, but they seemed to have the wrong bill shape and were definitely more interested in eel grass than eggs. I finally figured these had to be some other species and left it to be figured out another day. Besides I was birding now and with each new sighting was beginning to feel more and more like myself again.