Red-necked Grebe

Podiceps grisegena

Order PODICIPEDIFORMES - Family PODICIPEDIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Red-necked Grebe breeds on small inland lakes in Canada and Alaska, and winters along both coasts of North America. Boldly marked, vocal, and aggressive during the breeding season, it is quiet and subtly attired in winter.

Cool Facts

• Like other grebes, the Red-necked Grebe ingests large quantities of its own feathers. Feathers remain in the bird's stomach. The function of feathers in the stomach is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that the feathers help protect the lower digestive tract from bones and other hard, indigestible material.
• The Red-necked Grebe also feeds its feathers to its young.

• The Red-necked Grebe migrates over land strictly at night. It sometimes migrates over water or along coasts by day, in large flocks.

Description

• Size: 43-56 cm (17-22 in)
• Wingspan: 61-88 cm (24-35 in)
• Weight: 800-1600 g (28.24-56.48 ounces)

• Medium-sized waterbird; large grebe.
• Bill is large, straight, and sharp.
• Breeding adult has a rufous neck, pale gray or white cheeks, and a black cap.
• Nonbreeding adult has gray neck and cheeks.

• Belly pale.
• Sides and flanks grayish.
• Body and wings dark brownish black.
• Wings dark, with white at leading and trailing edge of inner wing.
• Neck and legs both extended in flight.
• Bill mostly dark gray, with yellow at base.
• Eyes dark brown, with concealed outer ring of straw-yellow.
• Legs and feet blackish, with some yellow or green splotching on toes.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Black cap, with slight crest. Large grayish white cheek patch extending from throat to below eyes. Front of neck and upper breast chestnut.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Dingy. Head with indistinct dark cap. Face dark, with lighter gray crescent extending from chin to back of face. Neck whitish or light gray, darker on back of neck.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar; male slightly larger.

Immature

Juvenile has bold dark stripes on sides of head. Immature similar to nonbreeding adult, but even grayer; some rufous or brown tones usually show on foreneck.

Similar Species

• Horned Grebe is smaller, has a smaller bill, and a whiter face in winter.
• Loons have white forenecks (not gray), have all-dark wings without white patches, and differ in overall shape of head and body.
• Ducks have flatter bills and do not sit so low in the water.

Sound

During the breeding season, most common vocalization is a long series of whinnies, chitters, honks, and brays. Also issues rattles, hisses, and purrs. Alarm call is a sharp tick.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeding range extends from Alaska, as far as tree line, to southwestern Quebec, southward to Oregon and southern Ontario. Also breeds in Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters on both coasts of North America, usually as far south as Oregon and Long Island. Some Red-necked Grebes winter on the Great Lakes; these populations irrupt southward and eastward in severe winters. Also in Eurasia.

Habitat

Breeds on shallow freshwater lakes, bays of larger lakes, marshes, and other inland bodies of water. Winters on open ocean or on large lakes.

Food

Fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, and some mollusks and amphibians.

Behavior

Foraging

Dives under water for food. Locates prey by sight. Captures prey by grasping with bill.

Displays

Pairs defend their territories with various threat displays, including spreading of wings, hunching, raising heads, or thrusting bills forward.

Courtship

Pair bond is developed and maintained through highly complex, ritualized courtship displays, including parallel rushes in upright positions and mutual presentation of green weeds.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Floating mound of plant matter with a depression in the middle; bulk of nest is below water line. Nest is placed on aquatic vegetation, sometimes in open water, and anchored to the lake bottom or submerged logs.

Egg Description

Light blue.

Clutch Size

Usually 4-5 eggs. Range: 1-9.

Condition at Hatching

Downy and active; chicks immediately climb onto parent's back, where they spend most of their time until they are 10 to 17 days old.

Conservation Status

No clear trend in population numbers. Susceptible to contaminants, such as organochlorines and heavy metals, that accumulate in tissues of prey species. Habitat loss for agriculture, roads, and development is also a threat. Listed as Threatened in Wisconsin. Otherwise no official status.

Other Names

Grèbe jougris (French)
Holboell's Grebe, Gray-cheeked Grebe (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

Stout, B. E., and G. L. Nuechterlein. 1999. Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena). In The Birds of North America, No. 465 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.