Grebes

All 4 species of grebes on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 62 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• It spends between nine and ten months a year without flying and is one of the least efficient fliers among birds; even so, on migration it covers up to 6,000 km.

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• One parent carries the chicks on its back, between the wings, while the other member of the pair dives for food and passes it straight into their bills.

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• Faced with a threat it does not take off: it slips under the surface with barely a ripple and comes up several metres away.

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• Like all grebes, it swallows its own feathers and feeds them to its chicks: they form a mass in the stomach that wraps around fish bones and protects the digestive tract, and that is later brought up as pellets.

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• Its nest is a floating platform anchored to the vegetation: it rises and falls with the water level, and at the first sign of danger the adults cover the eggs with wet vegetation before slipping underwater.

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• It is the smallest grebe in Europe and can vanish underwater in an instant at any sign of danger.

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• It carries its chicks on its back through their first few weeks.

Ecosystems