Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatusWhere and when to see them

The Great Crested Grebe is an elegant diving waterbird with elaborate breeding head ornaments. RSPB recounts severe historical persecution for those feathers in Britain. Today its displays and back-riding chicks are much better reasons to appreciate it, but such behaviour should never be promised on a particular shore excursion. Source: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/great-crested-grebe

Size

Species-specific body-length measurement not verified.

Weight

Species-specific weight not verified.

Lifespan

Species-specific lifespan not verified.

Status

A current formal global conservation assessment was not verified.

Pairs can perform coordinated head movements and a display in which they rise from the water with weed. Very young chicks may ride on an adult’s back. The species often dives rather than flying to escape, so a disappearing bird may reappear some distance from its original position.

• It is a diving waterbird.
• Pairs perform elaborate displays.
• Weed can feature in courtship.
• Small chicks ride on adults’ backs.
• Its feet are set far back.
• Historical feather hunting seriously affected Britain’s population.

Winter watching is suggested for the Strasbourg registry entry, while Grande Noë is described as a year-round opportunity. Neither wording establishes verified numerical months in the retrieved evidence. Courtship dates from British sites cannot be transferred to these French river reaches. No monthly values are assigned.

Registered sites are Strasbourg’s Rohrschollen/Vieux Rhin area, the lower Saône promenade near Lyon and the Grande Noë lake inside the Seine loop at Léry-Poses. The latter is a floodplain gravel-pit lake excursion, not a claim that a nesting grebe will be visible beside a moving Seine ship.

RSPB describes a diet based mainly on fish and aquatic invertebrates. These are obtained by diving, not by stalking along a bank. A local species-by-species prey inventory was not verified. https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/geltsdale/b/geltsdale-blog/posts/witness-the-spectacle-of-great-crested-grebes-performing-their-courtship-ritual-on-the-tarn-at-rspb-geltsdale

Common name

Great Crested Grebe

Scientific name

Podiceps cristatus

Animal group

Birds

Size

Species-specific body-length measurement not verified.

Weight

Species-specific weight not verified.

Lifespan

Species-specific lifespan not verified.

Status

A current formal global conservation assessment was not verified.

Identification

Breeding birds have decorative head plumes, a long pale neck and a pointed bill. Outside breeding plumage, reduced head ornamentation changes the impression substantially. RSPB notes that the backward placement of the feet makes grebes awkward on land but well adapted to moving in water.