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The great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is a member of the grebe family of water birds.The bird is characterised by its distinctive appearance, featuring striking black, orange-brown, and white plumage, and elaborate courtship display that involves synchronised dances and displays.
Grebes are small to medium-large in size ranging from the least grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), at 120 g (4.2 oz) and 23.5 cm (9.3 in), to the great grebe (Podiceps major), at 1.7 kg (3.7 lb) and 71 cm (28 in). Despite these size differences grebes are a homogenous family of waterbirds with very few or slight differences among the genera.
The type species was subsequently designated as the great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus). [3] The genus name combines variants on the Latin podex, roughly meaning "rear-end", and pes, meaning "foot". [4] The black-necked, Colombian, silvery, and Junin grebes are very closely related and were formerly sometimes separated as the genus Dyas.
Two great crested grebes swimming on Rutland Water. A great crested grebe is the emblem of the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS). [1] Leicestershire and Rutland are neighbouring counties in the English Midlands. Rutland is the smallest county in England and its administration was amalgamated with its larger neighbour ...
The grebe probably opens its bill and looks down the eye-line toward its target. [47] European breeders, which have to compete with the larger great crested grebe for fish, eat a greater proportion of invertebrates than the longer-billed American subspecies, although both races eat mainly fish in winter. [11]
In winter, its size, buff plumage, with a darker back and cap, and “powder puff” rear end enable easy identification of this species. The little grebe's breeding call, given singly or in duet, is a trilled repeated weet-weet-weet or wee-wee-wee which sounds like a horse whinnying.
The specific epithet stellata is Latin for "set with stars" or "starry", [7] and refers to the bird's speckled back in its non-breeding plumage. [6] Members of the family Gavidae are known as loons in North America and divers in Great Britain and Ireland. [8] The International Ornithological Congress uses the name red-throated loon for this ...
Anhingas or darters are often called "snake-birds" because of their long thin neck, which gives a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged. The males have black and dark-brown plumage, an erectile crest on the nape, and a larger bill than the female. The females have much paler plumage especially on the neck and underparts.