[335] Tachybaptus ruficollis, Little Grebe

[335] Tachybaptus ruficollis, Little Grebe

Introduction

Tachybaptus ruficollis, the Little Grebe, is much smaller than [273] the Great Crested Grebe, but has its same habit of diving deeply. It is often called a Dabchick.

These are the only two types of Grebe commonly found in the UK.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Podicepiformes (Only One Family)

Family – Podicepidae (Grebes)

Genus – Tachybaptus

Scientific Name – Tachybaptus ruficollis

Name

Tachy-baptus, from Greek roots, means fast sinking or fast diving and rufi-collis, from Latin roots, means red-necked.

Description

See [273] Great Crested Grebe for an introduction to grebes.

The Little Grebe is a round looking bird, much smaller than the Great Crested Grebe. In summer its upper body is black with a dark red-brown neck, but in winter it becomes a mixture of slightly buff shades of grey.

Its habits are much like its Great Crested cousin. They dive for fish and aquatic invertebrates.

Habitat and use

They can be migratory but have large areas where they are resident – including much of Europe, sub-Saharan Arica, India and the far East. They like heavily vegetated areas of freshwater lakes.

Other Notes

It’s hard to get any idea of how common these birds are. I see them at one of the Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean whenever I go there, but have only very rarely seen them elsewhere.

Here is my only picture of a young Little Grebe and another shot beside Mallards to show how small they are.