The 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 rare species of birds can winter in the northern latitudes, but subject to the presence of non-freezing water bodies.
Feature and description
The 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, including the tail. Wingspan - up to 60 cm.
The beak is slightly upturned, thin and short, black, but in winter it becomes a gray-horn color. The head is large and rounded compared to the body. The neck is thin and appears short when the bird is not stretching it.
The color of the eyes in adults is bright red, and in young animals it is brown.
Plumage
The plumage color of the black-necked grebe changes with the season. In autumn and winter, the back, head, sides and underbelly are lighter. In spring, the feathers on the neck and head are black, the sides acquire a reddish tint. A black crest appears on the head,which, as it were, is inlaid with tufts of golden feathers, noticeable from the back of the head to the eyes. The bird often spreads its feathers and at such moments it appears 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 only be seen when the bird is cleaning its feathers.
Voice
Black-necked grebe makes hoarse whistling sounds. Sometimes the chirping sounds like a tongue twister.
In the spring season, it makes loud whistling sounds resembling "wee-wee", which gradually turn into "pee-pee". Sometimes the bird grumbles softly: “trrr.”
Behaviors
The black-necked grebe spends most of its life in the water, even sleeping there. If it comes out on land, it moves very clumsily. On the water it is very mobile, one might say, fussy. The bird has almost no fear of humans.
Hides from natural enemies by a swift dive into the water, where it can hold out for about 30 seconds. The main enemy in Eurasia for birds are crows.
They live in flocks of 4 to 400 individuals, on average they gather in groups of 20-30 birds. Birds are great to shoot right off the surface of the water and can make long flights.
Habitats
In our country, you can see the black-necked grebe (photo is given in the article) on the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. The borders of nesting run along the latitude of St. Petersburg.
Birdprefers flat and fresh lakes, but feels great on brackish waters and on sea coasts. In comparison with other species of ducks, this bird is least of all attached to emersed thickets, except for the period of laying eggs. Often settles in ponds where fish are bred, or in floodplain lakes.
Toadstools prefer to settle near the habitat of gulls and terns. Quite peacefully behave 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 depart in November, in more northern latitudes it begins in August and lasts until September.
Reproduction
Male black-necked grebes perform a mating dance of 6-7 elements.
In one clutch, on average, 4-6 eggs, but sometimes up to 8. The egg shell eventually acquires a reddish or brown tint due to nesting material and periodic immersion in water. The nests themselves are floating, mostly made of reed, up to 30 centimeters in diameter. The eggs are almost the same shape from both edges, in length - from 32 to 47 millimeters.
Often, after the babies hatch, parents migrate to another part of the reservoir due to the impoverishment 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 life, the chicks begin to fly up, and the parents immediately leave the offspring, going to the place of molting. Therefore, not all chicks survive until full rise to the wing.
About whatthis species of birds makes a second clutch, there is no exact information, but some researchers claim that in the event of a clutch being lost, some pairs were seen making a new one.
Puberty occurs at the end of the first year of life. Incubation of eggs lasts no more than 22 days.
Food
The main diet of birds is represented by small insects, mollusks and crustaceans. They do not disdain small fish, larvae, tadpoles and other invertebrates.
Babies are fed mainly on the larvae of the aquatic environment in which the birds live.
Interesting facts about the black-necked grebe
The most intriguing moment is where the name of the bird came from. There are many versions of this. One of the most plausible says that at a time when people ate absolutely everything that moves, it turned out that the meat of the black-necked grebe is tasteless, bitter and has an unpleasant odor. It is for this reason that this species of birds was called the "grebe".
It is interesting that grebes, unlike ducks, warm their paws by putting them out of the water. Ducks, on the contrary, hide their paws under the fluff.
Toadstools, when cleaning their own feathers, swallow feathers that protect the stomach from sharp fish bones. Ducks swallow small stones for this purpose.
The black-necked grebe is listed in the Red Book. To be more precise, it is in category 4 - "undefined status". This is due to the fact that there are no real statistics on howbirds of this species need protection, since it is not known how many individuals really exist on the planet. However, several countries where grebes nest still consider them endangered, namely the DPRK, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan.
