RED-NECKED GREBE

Grebes are water birds. They look like ducks but belong to a different family. Grebes are very good swimmers and divers but have difficulty walking on land. They spend most of their lives in water. Grebes like to nest in the wetlands (marshes and lakes). Their floating nests can be found among the reeds near the shore. The young ride on the backs of their parents.

There are seven grebe species in North America - Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe and Least Grebe. This web page is about the Red-necked Grebe. The Red-necked Grebe is the second largest grebe in North America.

• HABITAT - They nest on freshwater lakes and wetlands (ponds, marshes, sloughs)

• RANGE - (map) ; During the summer breeding season, Red-necked Grebes range from Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territories down through the western and central Canadian provinces into the northern states. They spend the winter along the Pacific coast (from Alaska to southern California) and the Atlantic coast (from Nova Scotia to Florida).

• DESCRIPTION
  The Red-necked Grebe is more colourful in the summer than in the winter.
  
  -head has a black cap, pale greyish cheeks, long pointed bill
  -long neck, back of neck is black
  -throat and chest is chestnut (reddish brown)
  -stomach is pale, sides are greyish
  -back and wings are dark (brownish black)
  In winter the bird is mainly grey in colour

  -length is 46 to 52 cm (17 to 22 in)
  -legs are set far back on its body
  -toes are lobed not webbed like ducks

• ADAPTATIONS
  BEAK - long, sharp beak for catching fish; for gathering materials to make the nest.
  TOES - Lobed toes (individually webbed toes) help to make this bird an excellent swimmer and an expert diver.
  DIVES UNDERWATER
  SINKS IN THE WATER - can sink slowly in a sitting position leaving only head and neck above the water
  HOLDS BREATH - can stay underwater for three minutes or more
  MIGRATES - spends the winter in coastal waters

• NEST
  - The nest floats on the water
  - It is attached to reeds,cattails or bulrushes close to shore.
  - Both male and female build the nest.
  - It measures 24 inches across, slightly hollowed
  - Materials used for the nest are dead and rotting reeds and flags; matted together with algae and water mosses
  - The eggs often get wet.
  (larger photo)

  - If the nest is destroyed the birds will rebuild it.
  - Nest is near the shore to provide shelter from wind and waves.

• EGGS AND YOUNG BIRDS
  - 3 to 5 eggs are laid in June.
  - Both male and female take turns incubating the eggs.
  - The eggs hatch in 22 to 27 days.
  - Both parents care for the young.
  - The adult carries the chicks on its back until they are able to swim. (photo)
  - This protects the young from large fish.
  - By the time the chicks are two weeks old, they are able to swim on their own.
  - The young are independent in 8 to 10 weeks.

• FOOD
  - minnows and small fish - swims underwater and catches fish with its sharp beak
  - also water insects, leeches, worms, tadpoles, salamanders, crayfish,water plants

• ENEMIES/DANGERS
  - enemies include raccoons, skunks, owls, eagles, minks, muskrats and river otters
  - destruction of habitat (drainage of wetlands, change in water levels, contaminated water).

• PROTECTION
  - They dive to escape, then resurface at a distance.
  - A grebe will try to drive off intruders by underwater attacks (by diving and using the sharp beak to poke the intruder from below).
  - Grebes will try to chase away other birds with loud calls.

• OTHER INTERESTING FACTS

  - Grebes do not fly except when migrating.

  - Because the legs are set so far back, grebes are clumsy on land and cannot take flight without first making a very long run on the surface of the water.

  - Numbers are decreasing due to destruction of their habitat.

  - The male and female do a courtship dance on the water.

  - In the fall grebes molt. They lose all of their flight feathers at once, In a few weeks they grow new feathers and continue the flight to where they will spend the winter months.

  - Grebes eat their own feathers and feed the feathers to their young. Perhaps this protects them from the sharp fish bones they swallow. The feathers may help to trap the fish bones so the bones have time to dissolve.