Species: Podiceps grisegena

Red-necked Grebe

Species

Show on Lists

Puget Sound Partnership indicator species: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

In all plumages, identified by its large size and robust bill with yellowish base. In breeding plumage, head has black cap and large, definitive pale-gray cheek patch extending upwards to behind eye. Foreneck and upper breast chestnut; belly pale; sides and flanks grayish. Upperparts dark brownish black. Wings dark, with two prominent white patches: one on secondaries, the other on leading edge of wing. In winter plumage, head has black cap; mouse-gray patch on ear-coverts; and white crescent extending from white chin and throat upward behind ear coverts. Overall appears somewhat dingy, with white or light gray foreneck blending to dark gray-black hindneck (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Podicipediformes

Family

Podicipedidae

Genus

Podiceps

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101127

Classification

Other Global Common Names

grèbe jougris

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Podicipediformes - Podicipedidae - Podiceps - , for East Asian and North American populations (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A large grebe.

Migration

false - false - true - Northward migration along U.S. Pacific coast starts in March; movements through western interior occur late April-May. Arrives in all except most northern breeding areas by May. Typically arrives at lakes in spring shortly before complete breakup of ice (late Apr-mid-May) (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999). Return to coastal wintering areas mostly complete by mid-November, though some linger on large inland lakes until late fall. Lake Ontario is an important spring stopover in the east.

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Feeds on small fish where available, but also eats aquatic and land insects, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic worms, tadpoles, salamander eggs and some vegetable matter. Eats feathers. A visual predator, pursues fish and other swimming prey underwater and plucks items off bottom and off vegetation. Fish may be the principle food item in winter (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).

Reproduction Comments

Egg-laying peaks in June in many areas. Male and female in turn incubate usually 3-5 eggs for 22-27 days. Young are tended by both parents, independent probably at 8-10 weeks. Usually 1 brood/year. Usually nests solitarily, sometimes in loose colony.

Ecology Comments

Breeding territory size variable, reflects food supply and other ecological factors. Each breeding pair usually defends about 68-114 meters of shoreline and associated waters, where all activities take place (Palmer 1962). Occasionally, pairs may nest as little as 9 meters apart.

Length

Weight

1023

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2008-01-09

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-20

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Holarctic. Breeding range extends from Alaska and western and south-central Canada south to Washington, Montana, northeastern South Dakota, Minnesota, and rarely elsewhere in northern United States; also Europe and northern Asia. During the nonbreeding season, the range extends coastally from Alaska to southern California and from Nova Scotia to central Florida (mainly north of Chesapeake Bay), casually along Gulf Coast; also in the Old World. Areas of highest winter density in North America include waters around Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia and the Bay of Fundy (Root 1988).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101127