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Australasian Grebe

Tachybaptus novaehollandiae

Description:

Length:- 250mm - 270mm. Sexes are similar, with the male larger and longer-billed. Sooty above; breast and flanks are a dappled grey-brown; belly is silky white. Glossy black head, with a pear-shaped patch of chestnut, which extends from the eye backwards to the side of head and neck. Has an oval patch of pale yellow bare skin at gape. The sooty wing has a broad, white band through the middle remiges ( flight feathers ). An orange-yellow eye. A black bill with a white tip. Dark grey-green feet. Non-breeding plumage sees a head that is dull and throat and sides of face white. Bill is a grey-brown.

Habitat:

Gordonbrook Dam.

Notes:

Occurring world-wide, one family - grebes and dabchicks. Order Podicipediformes. Family Podicipedidae. These are small to medium diving birds, seen in fresh and brackish water. They have slender bills; thick and furry waterproofed plumage; short wings and toes that are broadly lobed and set far back on the body, to help with propulsion. Food consists of invertebrates and fish, which are caught in underwater dives. Flight fluttering is mainly at night. After an elaborate water courtship, mating takes place. Nests of weed are built and float on the water. Duties are shared. The parents' carry the young, striped hatchlings on their back, even underwater. About 20 species, three of which are in Australia. Head plumage is very distinctive, in the breeding season. The Australasian Grebe is also known as:- Little Grebe; 'Diver'; Australian Dabchick; Red-necked Grebe. They are a poor fluttering flyer. Keep to smaller, deeper stretches of fresh water that has patchy rush cover, in which to hide. Feed mostly at dawn and dusk, either in small groups or territorial pairs, when not breeding. A variety of deep dives and surface chases are used to snare their prey. Food is mostly mobile and consists of small fish; pond snails; assorted water insects and crustaceans and zooplankton. Australasian Grebes, like most grebes, eat their feathers and feed the feathers to their young ( I'm not sure why?? ) These grebes are the most vocal of Australian grebes. Voice is a rattling trill, sometimes as a duet. Single, sharp note has also been recorded. This has, so far, been my only sighting of the Australasian Grebe and therefore a "You Beauty!" moment. Reference:- Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds

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Single D
Spotted by
Single D

Gordonbrook, Queensland, Australia

Spotted on Jun 1, 2022
Submitted on Nov 27, 2022

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