Grebes range in size from small to medium waterbirds.  They occupy a great variety of aquatic habitats.  Grebes have long necks, virtually no tail and short, pointed beaks.


For other waterbird trend pages click a link below:

Shorebird trends
Diving Duck trends
Dabbling Duck trends
Cormorant trends
Heron and Egret trends
Tern trends
Other waterbird trends


For Grebe graphs and profiles click a link below:

Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Western Grebe

About Graphs

References

Horned Grebe
Podiceps auritus

Description
A small grebe with a short and sharply pointed bill.  During the breeding season, Horned Grebes have a solid golden feather patch behind the eye, a black head, dark gray back, and rufous neck and sides.  In winter, upperparts are dark and the chin and front of the neck are white.
 
Range
Breeds from Alaska and northwestern Canada to northern Great Plains.  Winters in the Aleutians along both coasts and in the southeastern United States.

Diet
Their main food is aquatic insects in summer; fish and crustaceans are taken in winter.  Generally forages in shallow to moderately deep waters.

Natural History Notes
Like other grebes, the young can swim and dive immediately after hatching but are often seen riding on their parents' backs. 

Horned Grebes are rarely seen in flight, especially once they’ve arrived at their wintering grounds.  They are not usually seen flying during migration because they almost always fly at night.

Bolinas Lagoon Population Trends
From a peak of about 60 wintering birds in 1976, numbers have declined to about 20 birds currently. 


Eared Grebe
Podiceps nigricollis


 
Description
The most common grebe worldwide, the Eared Grebe is small-bodied with a thin black bill.  In the summer, they are mostly black with orange ear tufts.  In winter, they have white, black, and grey plumage.
 
Range
The Eared Grebe breeds in the western United States and Canada in shallow alkaline lakes and ponds.  They winter along the western coast of the United States and throughout Mexico.  Eared Grebes only migrate at night.
 
Diet
Feeds primarily on small invertebrates, such as aquatic insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and brine shrimp.
 
Natural History Facts
In Point Reyes, the Eared Grebe is a common winter resident, but very rare in the summer.  The Eared Grebe arrives in late July and stays in the area until spring.  Eared Grebes forage primarily on estuaries and lagoons and occasionally on freshwater ponds and inshore waters such as Drake’s Bay.
 
Bolinas Lagoon Population Trends
The number of Eared Grebes has remained relatively low on Bolinas Lagoon in the past thirty years.  The population increased from about 2 to 12 birds from by the early 1980s, then dropped to 3 birds by 1992.  In the past ten years, the population peaked at 10 birds and then decreased to about 7 birds in 2004.

Pied-billed Grebe
Podilymbus podiceps

 

Description
This small grebe has a brownish body and a tufted white rump.  The bill is short and thick, and develops a black ring in the summer.
 
Range
The Pied-billed Grebe has the largest range of any grebe in the Americas.  It is found year-round throughout much of the United States and Mexico.  It breeds in central United States and Canada.
 
Diet
The Pied-billed Grebe feeds on whatever prey it finds available, including a variety of fish, insects, frogs, and invertebrates.
 
Natural History Facts
The Pied-billed Grebe is rarely seen in flight and does not have webbed feet.  Instead, each toe has lobes that extend from the sides to increase surface area for swimming.  The Pied-billed Grebe is a common winter resident and a rare summer visitor, with no migratory peaks at Point Reyes.  Pied-billed Grebes are most commonly seen on freshwater ponds, but also can be found on bays, estuaries, and lagoons.  They breed in Point Reyes in tall vegetation around freshwater ponds and in marshes.
 
Population Trends on Bolinas Lagoon
The number of Pied-billed Grebes has decreased significantly in recent years on Bolinas Lagoon, from about 16 birds to only a few in 2004.  For the past thirty years, the population has usually been five or fewer birds.  At Bolinas Lagoon it occurs primarily in the Seadrift Lagoon.


Western Grebe
Aechmophorus occidentalis

Description
A large, black, gray and white grebe with a narrow body, long slender neck, and long, sharply pointed bill.  Looks very similar to Clark’s Grebe, but Western Grebes can be identified by their yellowish-green bill and by the extension of the black crown below their bright red eyes. Clark’s black crown is limited, with white around the eyes, and it has a brighter yellow beak than the Western Grebe.

Range
Breeds across the American West and in Mexico.  Winters along the Pacific Coast and on large bodies of water in the Southwest and Mexico.

Diet
The wide variety of fish taken suggests, although Western Grebes are fish specialists, they are opportunists when it comes to species of fish taken.

Natural History Notes
The Western Grebe is best known for its elaborate and energetic courtship rituals.  The courtship ceremonies in which these birds perform a series of displays are among the most complex in birds.

Western and Clark’s grebes are unique among grebes in possessing a mechanism in the neck that permits them to thrust the head forward like a spear. Such mechanism is well known in herons and anhingas, but its details remain to be worked out in grebes.

Bolinas Lagoon Population Trends
The population has declined from about 40 birds from 1976 to 1982 to about 5 individuals in 2004.