Horned Grebe
Order: Podicipediformes
Family: Podicipedidae
Genus: Podiceps
Species: auritus
Description
- Length: 14"
- Wing Span: 18"
- Weight: 1lb (450g)
- Description: Red eye very distinctive. Non-breeding: small black & white water duck. Black back, cap, and black'ish white flanks. Small bill with a whitish tip, mostly white throat and chest. Breeding: Rufous face with black cap and cheek. Solid yellow patch behind eye, rufous neck and body with a gray scaling on back. Peak or hump in the head formation is usually visiable at the back of the head.
- Gender Differences: Male & Females alike. Juveniles resemble non-breeding adult.
Factoids:
- Like most grebes, the small chicks of the Horned Grebe frequently ride on the backs of their swimming parents. The young ride between the wings on the parent's back, and may even go underwater with them during dives
- The Horned Grebe regularly eats some of its own feathers, enough that its stomach usually contains a matted plug of them. This plug may function as a filter or may hold fish bones in the stomach until they can be digested. The parents even feed feathers to their chicks to get the plug started early
- A sleeping or resting Horned Grebe puts its neck on its back with its head off to one side and facing forward. It keeps one foot tucked up under a wing and uses the other one to maneuver in the water. Having one foot up under a wing makes it float with one "high" side and one "low" side
- Simlar species include: Eared Grebe
- see table below for major differences
-
Eared Horned bill color darker gray Gray'ish with a white tip back
high and rounded low & slightly rounded head, face & neck features mostly dark with small white patch behind the cheek Black cap, white face, neck & chest
All photo, video and audio on this site are ©2010 Jamie Osterbuhr
Life List Index #220, February 4th, 2008 - California
Sources: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Sibley's Guide to Birds, Sibley's Birding Bascis, The Sibley's Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
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