On a stroll around Echo Park Lake yesterday my posse of two moms and two daughters saw not one but three grebe chicks, diving and dabbling in the murky water. I am assuming these are the pied-bill grebes that Martin Cox reported seeing. (See this week's Chicken Corner," Score 1 for grebes!") Also saw a bunch of mottled ducks, which look like Mallards, and in the same flock one white duck with tan spots and a long body. These ducks must be new to town because they swam away from us, despite the fact that we offered to toss half a leftover bagel in tiny bits.

On the human-machine side: some USC engineering students had a pair of robot water craft preparing to launch. The students cheerfully told us about the project. Maybe they thought we would feed them.