Black-necked Grebe

Black-necked Grebe
Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis, adult breeding plumage
Podiceps nigricollis californicus, adult non-breeding plumage
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Podicipediformes
Family:	Podicipedidae
Genus:	Podiceps
Species:	P. nigricollis
Binomial name
Podiceps nigricollis Brehm, 1831
Summer      Resident      Winter

The Black-necked Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis, known in North America as the Eared Grebe, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. It occurs on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

Taxonomy

There are three subspecies:

• P. n. nigricollis is found from western Europe to western Asia (wintering to the south and west), in central and eastern Asia, and in eastern Africa
• P. n. gurneyi is found in southern Africa
• P. n. californicus is found from southwestern Canada through the western U.S. It winters as far south as Guatemala.

The two common names for this species both refer to features visible when the bird is in its breeding plumage; in such plumage, it has an all-black neck and a spray of golden plumes on each side of its head. The name "Eared Grebe" was in usage nearly a century before the name "Black-necked Grebe". The latter was first used in 1912 by Ernst Hartert, in an effort to bring the common name of the species in line with its scientific name. The genus name of this species—Podiceps—comes from two Latin words: podicis, meaning "vent" or "anus" and pes meaning "foot". This is a reference to the attachment point of the bird's legs—at the extreme back end of its body. The specific epithet nigricollis is Latin for "black-necked": niger means "black" and collis means "neck".

Description and range

P. n. nigricollis, non-breeding plumage

The Black-necked Grebe is 28–34 centimetres (11–13 in) long. The adult is unmistakable in summer with a black head and neck and yellow ear tufts. In winter, this small grebe is white with a poorly defined black cap, which distinguishes it from the crisper-looking Slavonian Grebe (Horned Grebe in America).

In courtship the male gives a mellow poo-ee-chk call to the female.

This species breeds in vegetated areas of freshwater lakes across Europe, Asia, Africa, northern South America and the southwest and western United States. The North American subspecies, P. n. californicus is known as the Eared Grebe (or "eared diver"). These birds migrate in winter, mostly to the Pacific Coast where they range south to El Salvador on a regular basis; vagrants may occur as far as Costa Rica.

Black-necked Grebes of the nominate subspecies P. n. nigricollis in the cooler temperate regions of the Old World also winter further south, with many European birds moving to the Mediterranean area. The isolated southern African race, P. n. gurneyi is sedentary. It was named by South African ornithologist and author Austin Roberts in honour of the English bankers and amateur ornithologists John Henry Gurney and John Henry Gurney Jr..

Sadly the large breeding population in County Roscommon, Ireland discovered about 1915 fell victim to a drainage scheme in the late 1930s; at its peak there were an estimated 250 pairs. Breeding, in very small numbers, was suspected in Ireland in 2002 and 2006.

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  Eared Grebe in non-breeding plumage

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  The similar Horned Grebe in non-breeding plumage for comparison
  

Behaviour

The Black-necked Grebe is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its prey underwater, eating mostly fish as well as small crustaceans, aquatic insects and larvae. It prefers to escape danger by diving rather than flying, although it can easily rise from the water.

Like all grebes, the Black-necked Grebe nests on the water's edge, since its legs are set very far back and it cannot walk well. Usually two eggs are laid, and the striped young are sometimes carried on the adult's back.

Interestingly, the eared grebe is essentially flightless for most of the year (9 to 10 months), and serves as an example of one of the most inefficient flier among avifauna. Generally, this bird avoids flying at all costs and reserves long distance flight exclusively for migration. However, when migrating, it will travel as much as 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) to reach prosperous areas which are exploited by few other species.

Footnotes

References

• BirdLife International (2009). "Podiceps nigricollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/106003641. Retrieved November 20, 2011. 
• Néstor Herrera, Roberto Rivera, Ricardo Ibarra Portillo & Wilfredo Rodríguez (2006). "Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador [New records for the avifauna of El Salvador]" (in Spanish with English abstract) (PDF). Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16 (2): 1–19. http://www.sao.org.co/publicaciones/boletinsao/01-Herrera.etal.RecordsSalvador.pdf. 
• Malcolm Ogilvie & Chris Rose (2003). Grebes of the World. Uxbridge, UK: Bruce Coleman. ISBN 1-872842-03-8. 
• J. R. Jehl Jr., A. E. Henry & H. I. Ellis (2003). "Optimizing migration in a reluctant and inefficient flier: the eared grebe". In Peter Berthold, Eberhard Gwinner & Edith Sonnenschein. Avian Migration. Springer. pp. 199–209. ISBN 9783540434085. 

External links

• Podiceps nigricollis in the Flickr: Field Guide Birds of the World
• Podiceps nigricollis on Avibase
• BTO BirdFacts - Black-necked Grebe
• Eared Grebe – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Eared Grebe – eNature.com
• Eared Grebe Information and Photos – South Dakota Birds
• Eared Grebe – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Watch more black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) video clips from the BBC archive on Wildlife Finder