Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)
The Horned Grebe is one of several species of grebes that live in Alberta. It is a small duck-like water bird that inhabits small freshwater ponds and marshes. In breeding plumage, it has a golden yellow patch of feathers behind its eyes - that can be raised or lowered at will - giving it the appearance of “horns.”
HOW TO IDENTIFY
- Horned grebes are 31–28 cm long with a short, pointed bill.
- The front of its neck and upper breast are reddish during breeding season
- The plumage of the male tends to be brighter. Its winter plumage is black and white and characterized by a black crown and white cheeks.
- Chicks have dark stripes, which are particularly visible on the head and neck.
Identify in Flight
- Like other grebes, P. auritus must run along the surface of the water in order to take-off.
- Horned grebes fly quickly with rapid wing beats.
- Their feet and neck are outstretched during flight and their head tilted downward.
Identify by Sound
This bird has different calls for greeting, mating, and warning. Click here to listen to the many sounds of the Horned Grebe!
WHERE TO FIND
Horned Grebes are found across North America, with most of its breeding range in Canada, extending from the Yukon, through the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. They live in small freshwater ponds and marshes containing a mixture of emergent vegetation and open water and have been observed in urban ponds in Edmonton and St Albert.
Horned Grebes breed on small, shallow, freshwater ponds with emergent vegetation such as rushes, sedges, and reeds. They also use artificial ponds such as industrial borrow pits that have filled with water, so long as some emergent vegetation is present. Migrants may appear on almost any body of water, including rivers, if large enough for landing and take-off. During periods of severe winter weather, Horned Grebes regularly land along roadways or in parking lots, which probably look like water bodies from the air. These "wrecks" are dangerous because the birds have trouble taking off again. Wintering Horned Grebes may be found on freshwater or saltwater, sometimes in sizable flocks. They sometimes remain all winter in the same vicinity; but at other sites they can be highly mobile, searching out schools of small fish that follow warmer water during the course of a winter.
BEHAVIOR
Horned Grebes usually form monogamous pairs. Pairs form during spring migration or even in winter. Pairs arrive at breeding lakes together and immediately begin pair-bonding displays, called “ceremonies." Each ceremony consists of a series of stereotyped postures and movements. In Horned Grebe, these include swimming together, gathering and presenting weeds, shaking the heads, and other displays.
They have a further set of displays associated with copulation. They are highly territorial around the nest and often drive away other pairs, though in some areas, nests are so close together that the birds appear to nest colonially. Males and females share incubation and often bring each other prey items when changing shifts. Both parents care for the young and defend them aggressively. When young reach about 2 weeks of age, the parents sometimes divide the brood and care for different young. The young are usually independent after 4 weeks, and pairs may separate at that point.
SOCIAL LIFE
Chicks are able to swim and dive immediately after hatching, but usually spend the majority of time on their parent’s backs during the first seven to 10 days. They nestle between their parent’s wings and ride along while the parents swim. They may even stay onboard during dives.
NEST PLACEMENT
Males and females select the nest site together, build the nest together, and also erect several similar platforms used only for copulation. Nests are placed within 10 feet of the shoreline, usually in an area with emergent vegetation.
NEST DESCRIPTION
are masses of aquatic vegetation piled up so that the top portion is 2–4 inches above waterline. Some are floating nests that are bound to emergent vegetation, others built on rocks or earth, and still others are anchored to the bottom of the pond. Nests measure about 14–16 inches across, with a depression of about 4 inches in the center for the eggs.
FOOD CHAIN
Horned Grebes eat aquatic insects, fish, crustaceans, and other small aquatic animals.
Young are fed adult’s feathers, a behaviour unique to grebes. This forms a plug of feathers in the stomach and may function as a filter or may hold fish bones in the stomach until they can be digested.
In order to be concealed from predators, they build cryptic, floating nests in mats of emergent vegetation. Grebes may be preyed upon by hawks, osprey, weasels, fishers and other predators.
Breeding Horned Grebes eat small fish, salamanders, frogs and tadpoles, crayfish, leeches, amphipods (tiny crustaceans), and a great variety of aquatic and aerial insects and their larvae. They capture most prey by diving and stabbing with the bill, but they are also skilled at catching flying insects as they pass by; and they often glean insects from the water’s surface or from floating vegetation. In migration and during winter, small crustaceans and fish form most of the diet, but they also take polychaetes (marine worms). Most Horned Grebes breed on shallow lakes, where they capture prey both in the water column and at the bottom. In larger water bodies, they dive only to perhaps 20 feet or so, where they pursue mostly small fish. Large flocks sometimes synchronize dives, possibly to forage cooperatively.
FUN FACTS
Horned grebes are excellent swimmers and divers. During dives they may stay underwater for up to three minutes and travel 150-200 meters.
They sleep by resting their neck on their back and tucking one foot under a wing and then use the other foot to manoeuvre in the water.
Grebes are awkward on land and spend the majority of their time swimming or floating on the water. Their legs are set so far back on their bodies that they are hardly able to walk.
- As in many grebe species, Horned Grebe frequently ride on their parents' backs, nestled in between their wings. The chicks may even go underwater with their parents during dives.
- The Horned Grebe regularly eats some of its own feathers, enough that 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. The parents even feed feathers to their chicks to get the plug started early.
- A sleeping or resting Horned Grebe puts its neck on its back with its head off to one side and facing forward. It keeps one foot tucked up under a wing and uses the other one to maneuver in the water. Having one foot up under a wing makes it float with one "high" side and one "low" side.
- The oldest recorded Horned Grebe was at least 5 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and re-released during banding operations in the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2007, the same place where it had been banded in 2002.
how you can help
- EALT protects wetland habitats important for horned grebes and other waterfowl. Horned grebes have been spotted at our Ministik and Glory Hills natural areas.
- Help keep your watershed healthy! We all live in a watershed and what we do in our very own yards has an impact on wetlands nearby.
- Wash your car at the carwash or use biodegradable soap
- Do not litter
- If you are using fertilizers or pesticides on your lawn follow the directions carefully and pay attention to the weather