Black-necked grebe
The black-necked grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds. Its breeding plumage features a distinctive ochre-coloured plumage. It is present in parts of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. This bird is closely related to the silvery grebe and the Junin grebe.
About Black-necked grebe in brief
The black-necked grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds. Its breeding plumage features a distinctive ochre-coloured plumage which extends behind its eye and over its ear coverts. The rest of the upper parts, including the head, neck, and breast, are coloured black to blackish brown. The subspecies californicus can be distinguished from the nominate by the former’s usually longer bill. The other subspecies, P. n. gurneyi, can be differentiated by its greyer head and upper parts and by its smaller size. This species is present in parts of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. It is classified as a least concern species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are potential threats to it, such as oil spills, but these are not likely to present a major risk to the overall population. This grebe dives to catch crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles, and small frogs and fish. When moulting at saline lakes, this bird feeds mostly on brine shrimp. It makes a floating cup nest on an open lake. The nest cup is covered with a disc. This nest is located both in colonies and by itself. During the breeding season, which varies depending on location, this species will lay one clutch of three to four eggs. After a 21-day incubation period, the eggs hatch, and then the nest is deserted.
After about 10 days, the parents split up the chicks between themselves. After this, the chicks become independent in about ten days, and fledge in about three weeks. This bird is closely related to the silvery grebe and the Junin grebe. The genus name Dytes is sometimes used for this species, a placement which was formalized by Robert Ridgway in 1881. The generic name Podiceps nigricollis comes from two Latin words: podicanus or pesentis, meaning foot. The specific epithet for black ornollis is for the extreme back end of the bird’s body. The species was first described by Carl Ludwig Hablitz in 1783 as Colymbus caspicus, from a bird in Bandar-e Anzali. This was originally thought to be a synonym for the horned Grebe, until Erwin Stresemann discovered that the description applied more to the black- necked gre be in 1948. The extinct Colombian grebe was considered to be an addition to three extant subspecies: Podiceps podiciceps, podicus or podicius, and Podiceps nigerollis. The current name for the species comes from the two other Latin words podicis or pesantis, which means extreme backend of the legs. The black- Necked Grebes is one of the most numerous grebe species in the world. It travels as far as 6,000 kilometres during migration to reach an area where it can safely moult.
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This page is based on the article Black-necked grebe published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
