Updated with City of San Diego response and a wildlife biologist's reaction

By Miriam Raftery

Photos: Grebe and chicks; grebe nest at risk

June 4, 2019 (Escondido) – A coalition of environmental groups has sent an urgent request to the San Diego County Water Authority asking for an emergency directive to halt pumping of water from Lake Hodges which has left grebe nests with eggs “high and dry” for the third time this season. The lake is in the city of San Diego, which has advised ECM today that it is taking steps to address the problem.

Grebes are famed for “dancing” across the water during mating system, drawing visitors for the spectacle. (View video of dancing grebes and a new video titled “Save the Grebe Chicks of Lake Hodges.”) 

The letter, signed by the Sierra Club, San Diego Audubon Society and four other environmental organizations, states that an estimated 300 eggs have been lost recently at Lake Hodges, from Western and Clark’s Grebes nests, some just days from hatching.