The Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) is a widespread breeding species in North America, nesting from south-central British Columbia and south-eastern Manitoba south to Mexico (American Ornithologists’ Union 1983). This note reports two apparent breeding records near Vancouver, British Columbia, which we believe represent the first breeding records for this species on tidewater.
On 29 August 1986, Ireland observed an adult Western Grebe with two small downy young in the brackish marsh off the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, Westham Island, British Columbia, at the mouth of the Fraser River. The chicks were seen subsequently on several dates during the following week, together with up to 130 adult Western Grebes that were summering in the area. Migrant Western Grebes do not begin arriving in the Vancouver area until mid- to late September.