Great Crested Grebe
Podiceps cristatus
Aves › Podicipediformes › Podicipedidae › Podiceps
Conservation status: least_concern
The Great Crested Grebe is a striking waterbird with a long slender neck, elegant posture, and distinctive head crests that it raises during courtship displays. It is an excellent diver that hunts fish underwater and rarely comes to land, spending most of its life on lakes and open water.
How To Identify
It has a medium size with sleek, dark plumage contrasting sharply with white patches on its flanks. The species' namesake feature is the prominent black erectile crest atop its head, which it can display dramatically.
Habitat
The Great Crested Grebe lives in large lakes and reservoirs.
Behaviour
The Great Crested Grebe exhibits mirror-image courtship displays and has chicks that ride on the parents' backs.
Native Range
The great crested grebe is found across Europe and east across the Palearctic.
Did You Know?
Their elaborate courtship — the 'weed dance' — was the subject of Julian Huxley's pioneering 1914 study of animal behaviour.
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