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Horned Grebe

Podiceps auritusOrder: PODICIPEDIFORMESFamily: Grebes (Podicipedidae)

Horned Grebe Portrait
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General

Horned Grebe: Small grebe with red-brown neck, breast and flanks, and nearly black throat and back. Head has black cap, white face, and conspicuous buff-orange to yellow ear plumes. Bill is dark with white tip and eyes are dark red. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has white cheeks, throat and breast, and dark crown, nape and back.

Range and Habitat

Horned Grebe: Breeds from Alaska and northern Canada south to Washington and Oregon, the Dakotas, and the northern Great Lakes. Spends winters in the Aleutians and the south along the Pacific coast to southern California, and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to Texas. During the breeding season, may be found predominantly on prairie and boreal freshwater lakes with both open waters and marsh vegetation; also nests in marshes, small sloughs with weedy margins, ponds, and occasionally on rivers.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"keark-keark", "yark-yark"

Interesting Facts

  • The Horned Grebe regularly eats some of its own feathers, and 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.
  • Folk names of this bird include Devil-diver, hell-diver, pink-eyed diver, and water witch.
  • In Blackfeet lore, the trickster Old Man tricked several ducks into closing their eyes and dancing while he killed them one by one. The smallest duck looked and alerted the others. This "duck" was the Horned Grebe, who became the first to notice trouble.
  • A group of grebes are collectively known as a "water dance" of grebes.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Horned Grebe
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Podiceps auritus
Length12 - 15 Inches
Wingspan24 Inches

Horned Grebe

Horned Grebe: Small grebe, red-brown neck, breast and flanks, nearly black throat and back. Head has black cap, white face, conspicuous buff-orange to yellow ear plumes. Bill is dark with white tip, eyes are dark red. Feeds on aquatic insects, fish and crustaceans. Direct flight on rapid wing beats.

● Song: "keark-keark", "yark-yark"

● Foraging & Feeding: Horned Grebe: Diet consists mainly of insects, crustaceans, and small fish; also eats leeches, tadpoles, salamanders, mollusks, plant materials, and feathers; forages by diving from the surface.

● Breeding & nesting: Horned Grebe: Three to seven pale green eggs are laid on a floating nest made of vegetation anchored to emergent plants. Incubation ranges from 22 and 25 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Horned Grebe: Eared Grebe has black neck; in winter, has dark cheeks. Western and Clark's grebes are larger with longer, more slender necks and yellow on bills.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Horned Grebe Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Horned Grebe: Breeds from Alaska and northern Canada south to Washington and Oregon, the Dakotas, and the northern Great Lakes. Spends winters in the Aleutians and the south along the Pacific coast to southern California, and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to Texas. During the breeding season, may be found predominantly on prairie and boreal freshwater lakes with both open waters and marsh vegetation; also nests in marshes, small sloughs with weedy margins, ponds, and occasionally on rivers.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight16 Ounces