Black-necked Grebe is a small feathered creature that prefers to nest in subtropical and temperate latitudes. You can meet birds in Eurasia, North America and Africa. This small species of birds can winter in the northern latitudes, but subject to the presence of ice-free water bodies.
Characteristic and Description
Black-necked Grebe is a medium-sized bird, with an average body weight of 300 to 400 grams. The length of the bird can reach a maximum of 34 cm along with the tail. Wingspan - up to 60 cm.
The beak is slightly upturned, thin and short, black, but in winter acquires a gray-horn color. The head is large, round in comparison with the body. The neck is thin and appears short when the bird does not stretch it.
The color of the eyes in adults is bright red, and in young animals is brown.
Plumage
The color of the plumage of a black-necked grebe bird varies with the season. In autumn and winter, the back, head, sides and lower abdomen are lighter. In spring, the feathers on the neck and head are black, the sides acquire a reddish hue. A black crest appears on the head, which is as if encrusted with bunches of golden feathers, visible from the back of the head to the eyes. The bird often opens feathers and at such moments it seems completely round.
By the period of mating games, the color of birds is dominated by black. She has red sides and a white belly, which can be seen only when the bird is cleaning feathers.
Vote
Black-necked Grebe makes hoarse-whistling sounds. Twitter sometimes resembles a tongue twister.
In the spring season it makes loud whistling sounds reminiscent of “pee”, which gradually turn into “pee-pee”. Sometimes the bird growls softly: "trrrr."
Habits
Black-necked grebe spends most of its life in the water, even sleeping there. If he goes to land, then he moves very awkwardly. On the water is very mobile, we can say fussy. The bird has almost no fear of humans.
It hides from natural enemies with a swift dive into the water, where it can last about 30 seconds. The main enemy in Eurasia for birds are crows.
Flocks of 4 to 400 individuals live, on average they gather in groups of 20-30 birds. Birds are perfectly removed right from the surface of the water and can make long flights.
Habitat
In our country, you can see the black-necked grebe (photo is given in the article) on the shores of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Nesting borders extend across the latitude of St. Petersburg.
The bird prefers flat and fresh lakes, however, it feels great on brackish waters and on sea coasts. In comparison with other duck species, this bird is least attached to surface thickets, except for the egg laying period. Often settles on ponds where fish are bred, or in floodplain lakes.
Toadstools prefer to settle close to the habitat of gulls and terns. They behave peacefully enough in relation to other species of birds. They can settle in open water, but this is extremely rare.
In the southern parts of the range, birds fly away in November; in more northern latitudes, it begins in August and lasts until September.
Breeding
Male black-necked grebes perform a dance of 6-7 elements.
In one clutch, an average of 4-6 eggs, but sometimes up to 8. The eggshell acquires a reddish or brown color over time due to nesting material and periodic immersion in water. The nests themselves are floating, mainly from reeds, with a diameter of up to 30 centimeters. Eggs have almost the same shape from both edges, in length - from 32 to 47 millimeters.
After hatching, the parents often migrate to another part of the reservoir due to the depletion of the food supply. Both parents are involved in raising offspring. The chicks themselves hatch with dark down, almost black. By about 1.5 months of age, the chicks begin to fly up, and the parents immediately leave the offspring, going to the place of molting. Therefore, not all chicks survive to the full rise to the wing.
There is no exact information about the fact that this species of birds makes the second clutch, but some researchers say that in the case of loss of clutch they saw how some couples made a new one.
Puberty occurs at the end of the first year of life. Hatching eggs lasts no more than 22 days.
Nutrition
The main diet of birds is represented by small insects, mollusks and crustaceans. They do not disdain small fish, larvae, tadpoles and other invertebrates.
The young are fed mainly by the larvae of representatives of the aquatic environment in which the birds live.
Interesting facts about the Black-necked Grebe
The most intriguing moment is where the bird came from. There are many versions on this score. One of the most plausible says that at a time when people ate absolutely everything that moves, it turned out that black-necked grebe meat is tasteless, bitter and has an unpleasant odor. It is for this reason that this species of birds got the name "Grebe".
Interestingly, toadstools, unlike ducks, warm their legs by pushing them out of the water. Ducks, on the contrary, hide their paws down.
Toadstools when cleaning their own feathers swallow feathers, which protect the stomach from sharp fish bones. Ducks swallow small pebbles for this purpose.
Black-necked grebe is listed in the Red Book. To be more precise, it is in 4 categories - “uncertain status”. This is due to the fact that there are no real statistics on how much birds of this species need protection, since it is not known how many individuals actually exist on the planet. However, several countries in which grebes nest, still consider them as an endangered species, namely the DPRK, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan.