Conditions were perfect late this afternoon at Park Point for counting waterbirds on Lake Superior (ignoring the fact that I had to traverse several snow drifts and overlook huge piles of snow and ice covering the beach). The lake surface was calm, and visibility was excellent with crystal clear air quality. There was only one small fishing boat and no kayaks, jet skis, or float planes in sight, so none of the birds were disturbed during nearly 3 hours of counting. My grand total of *2,094 Red-necked Grebes* smashed the previous record of 1,213 at Park Point 28 April 2011 (Loon 83:162). The vast majority were found between Lafayette Square (31st St) and the bus turn around (43rd St). The grebes were mostly congregated in several huge rafts; they were calling almost continuously, but very few were diving, so I am confident in this total -- in fact, there were several hundred more birds that were too far away to identify and some (most?) were probably Red-neckeds. Earlier this week, I surveyed the same Park Point locations twice and found very few grebes, so there must have been a huge influx of Red-necked Grebes within the past 24 to 48 hours. Less than 100 Horned Grebes were found today; their numbers are expected to increase dramatically when the smelt start running in earnest. More than 2,000 diving ducks (Aythya sp. and goldeneyes) were also counted at Park Point today. Three Red-throated Loons in alternate plumage and a Long-tailed Duck were observed from Lafayette Square. -- Peder H. Svingen Duluth, MN [log in to unmask]