Little Grebe

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Podicipediformes

Family: Podicipedidae

Genus: Tachybaptus

Species: Tachybaptus ruficollis

Descendant: grebes

Named by: Peter Simon Pallas

Year Published: 1764

Size: 

• Length: 24-29 cm (9.4-11.4 in)

• Weight: 140-250 g (5-9 oz)

• Wingspan: 40-45 cm (15.7-17.7 in)

Lifespan: 

• Wild: 30–40 years

• Captivity: 30–60 years

Activity: Diurnal 🌅

Thermoregulate: Endotherm

Type: 

• Reptiles (Archosaurs)

• Birds (Grebes)

Title(s): 

• Small Water Bird

Other Name(s)/Alias(es): 

• none

Pantheon: 

• Terran/Gaian 🇺🇳

Time Period: Holocene

Alignment: Shy

Threat Level: ★★

Diet: Filter Feeder 🦠

Elements: Water 🌊, Air 🌬️

Inflicts: Stench 💩, Mudded 🟤, Fatigue 😫

Weaknesses: Fire 🔥, Water 🌊, Rock 🪨, Air 🌬️, Electric ⚡, Leaf 🌿, Ice ❄️, Metal 🔩, Dark 🌑, Light 🔆

Casualties: 

• none

Based On: 

• itself

Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) – IUCN Red List 

ugh

The little grebe is a small water bird with a pointed bill. The adult is unmistakable in summer, predominantly dark above with its rich, rufous colour neck, cheeks and flanks, and bright yellow gape. The rufous is replaced by a dirty brownish grey in non-breeding and juvenile birds.

Juvenile birds have a yellow bill with a small black tip, and black and white streaks on the cheeks and sides of the neck as seen below. This yellow bill darkens as the juveniles age, eventually turning black in adulthood.

In winter, its size, buff plumage, with a darker back and cap, and “powder puff” rear end enable easy identification of this species. The little grebe's breeding call, given singly or in duet, is a trilled repeated weet-weet-weet or wee-wee-wee which sounds like a horse whinnying.

Both parents participate in rearing the young, and chicks often ride on their parents' backs for safety. Grebes often have complex reproductive behaviors, including courtship rituals like synchronized swimming and dances with aquatic vegetation.

Coming soon

Like all grebes, it nests at the water's edge, since its legs are set very far back and it cannot walk well. Usually four to seven eggs are laid. When the adult bird leaves the nest it usually takes care to cover the eggs with weeds. This makes it less likely to be detected by predators. The young leave the nest and can swim soon after hatching, and chicks are often carried on the backs of the swimming adults. In India, the species breeds during the rainy season.

The little grebe is an excellent swimmer and diver and pursues its fish and aquatic invertebrate prey underwater. It uses the vegetation skillfully as a hiding place.

This bird breeds in small colonies in heavily vegetated areas of freshwater lakes across Europe, much of Asia down to New Guinea, and most of Africa. Most birds move to more open or coastal waters in winter, but it is only migratory in those parts of its range where the waters freeze. Outside of breeding season, it moves into more open water, occasionally even appearing on the coast in small bays.

• Movement Pattern: Full Migrant

• Individual Type: Group

• Population Trend: Increased

• Population: ugh

• Locomotion: Versatile

• Assembled: Congregatory (and dispersive)

• Habitat: Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests; Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Salt Flats; Stone Forest; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Mushroom Forests; Mushroom Fields; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Cold Bamboo Forests; Tropical Bamboo Forests; Air-breathing Coral Reefs; Graveyard Vale; Mountain; Warm River; Cold River; Lukewarm River; Warm Pond; Cold Pond; Aquifer; Warm Littoral; Cold Littoral.

• Earth: 

  • Extant (Resident): Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Angola; Armenia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Benin; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; China; Comoros; Republic Congo; DR Congo; Croatia; Cyprus; Czechia; Côte d'Ivoire; Denmark; Djibouti; Egypt; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Estonia; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Finland; France; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Guinea; Hungary; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Ireland; Italy; Japan/Nihon; Kenya; South Korea; Kuwait; Laos; Latvia; Lebanon; Lesotho; Liberia; Libya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Madagascar; Malawi; Malaysia; Mali; Malta; Mauritania; Mayotte; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nepal; Netherlands; Niger; Nigeria; North Macedonia; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palestine; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Romania; Rwanda; San Marino; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Sierra Leone; Slovakia; Slovenia; Somalia; South Sudan; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tunisia; Türkiye; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Vietnam; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe

  • Extant (Breeding): Georgia/Sakartvelo; Hong Kong; Israel; Kazakhstan; North Korea; Kyrgyzstan; Papua New Guinea; Russia (European Russia); Senegal; Singapore; South Africa; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan

  • Extant (Non-breeding): Jordan

  • Extant (Seasonality uncertain): Macao

  • Possibly Extinct: Western Sahara

  • Extant & Vagrant: Australia; Faroe Islands; Gibraltar; Mongolia; Spain (Canary Is.)

• Berbania/Hirawhassa: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

• Reinachos/Ityosel: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

• Thatrollwa/Delphia: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

• Sawintir/Everrealm: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

• Agarathos: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

• Jotunheim: 

  • Extant: none

  • Extinct: none

Coming soon

Coming soon

Past and Present Incidents - Individuals

• Terran/Gaian

  • Greater (ugh-January 30, 2014 AD): The oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia that died at the age of at least 83 years. The bird's exact age is not known; it was already a mature adult when it arrived in Adelaide in 1933. It was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age. Greater's sex was never determined. also known as Flamingo One and Flamingo 1.

• Sawintiran

  • n/a 

• Jotunheim

  • n/a

The Recollections of Queen Arianna - Individuals

• Terran/Gaian

  • n/a

• Berbanian/Hirawhassan

  • n/a

• Reinachos/Ityoselese

  • n/a

• Delphian/Thatrollwan

  • n/a

• Sawintiran

  • n/a

• Jotunheim

  • n/a

See also: none

• Coming soon

• Afrikaans: Grootflamink

• Arabic: نحام كبي

• Azərbaycanca: Adi qızılqaz

• Belarusian: Фламінга звычайны

• Bulgarian: Розово фламинго

• Bhojpuri: राजहंस

• Bengali: বড় ফ্লেমিঙ্গো

• Brezhoneg: Flammeg boutin

• Català: Flamenc rosat

• Čeština: Plameňák růžový

• Dansk: Stor Flamingo

• Deutsch: Rosaflamingo

• English: Greater Flamingo

• Esperanto: Roza flamengo

• Español: Flamenco común

• Farsi: فلامینگوی بزرگتر

• Suomi: Flamingo

• Français: Flamant rose

• Hebrew: פלמינגו מצוי

• Hrvatski: Ružičasti plamenac

• Magyar: Rózsás flamingó

• Hayeren: Ֆլամինգո սովորական

• Italiano: Fenicottero rosa

• Nihongo: オオフラミンゴ

• Қазақша: Кәдімгі қоқиқаз

• Kurdî: Sorewîlka mezintir

• Lietuvių: Didysis flamingas

• Macedonian: Розово фламинго

• Malayalam: വലിയ അരയന്നക്കൊക്ക്

• Mongol: Ягаан нал

• Marathi: महा रोहित

• Bahasa Melayu: Burung Flamingo Caribbean

• Nepali: भद्रपंक्षी

• Nederlands: Flamingo

• Norsk nynorsk: Rosenflamingo

• Norsk: Flamingo

• Odia: ବଡ଼ ଏରା

• Polski: Flaming różowy

• Punjabi: وڈا فلیمنگو

• Português: Flamingo-comum

• Russian: Розовый фламинго

• српски/srpski: Ружичасти фламинго

• Svenska: Större flamingo

• Telugu: பெரும் பூநாரை

• Türkçe: Büyük flamingo

• Ukrainian: Фламінго рожевий

• Tiếng Việt: Hồng hạc lớn

• 粵語: 大紅鸛

• 中文: 大紅鸛

• Coming soon

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_flamingo

• https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Phoenicopterus_roseus

• https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=0F9B5174A8ACF737

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/greater-flamingo

• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22697360/155527405