Tachybaptus Ruficollis
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The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the
grebe Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes (). Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Most grebes f ...
family of
water birds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystem Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's ...
. The genus name is from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''rufus'' "red" and
Modern Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...
''-collis'', "-necked", itself derived from Latin ''collum'' "neck". At in length it is the smallest
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an member of its family. It is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.


Taxonomy

The little grebe was described by the German naturalist
Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...
in 1764 and given the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Colymbus ruficollis''. The
tricolored grebe The tricolored grebe (''Tachybaptus tricolor'') is a bird in the family Podicipedidae sometimes considered conspecific with the little grebe ''Tachybaptus ruficollis''. It is native to maritime Southeast Asia and northern parts of Australasia. T ...
was formerly considered conspecific, with some taxonomic authorities still considering it so.


Subspecies

Seven subspecies are currently accepted, four widespread, and three with restricted ranges; they are separated principally by size, eye colour, which varies from dark to light from west to east, and extent of white on the secondary feathers of the wing, which varies from none in temperate northern regions, to extensive white in tropical regions.


Description

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 beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ca ...
. 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 Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
, 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
trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is a networking protocol for optimizing bandwidth and resilience in Ethernet networks, implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and ...
ed repeated ''weet-weet-weet'' or ''wee-wee-wee'' which sounds like a
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
whinnying.


Distribution

This bird breeds in small colonies in heavily vegetated areas of freshwater lakes across Europe, much of
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
down to
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, and most of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. 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.


Behaviour

The little grebe is an excellent swimmer and diver and pursues its
fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
and aquatic
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
prey underwater. It uses the vegetation skilfully as a hiding place. 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
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...
s 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 India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, the species breeds during the rainy season.


Gallery

Zampullín corriendo sobre el agua - little grebe running on the water.jpg, ''T. r. ruficollis'' in Spain; no white in the wing File:カイツブリ, Little grebe ー 東京港野鳥公園.jpg, ''T. r. poggei'' in Japan; no white in the wing Little Grebe by Tisha Mukherjee 27.jpg, ''T. r. albescens'' in India; extensive white in the wing File:LittleGrebe DSC0240.jpg, Nest at edge of lake in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India File:Non breeding Little Grebe.jpg, Grebe displaying its webbed feet File:Tachybaptus ruficollis-diving.jpg, Diving at Delta del Llobregat,
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
File:Zampullín chico, polluelo Tachybaptus ruficollis.jpg, Chick File:Tachybaptus ruficollis MWNH 1919.JPG, Eggs, Collection
Museum Wiesbaden The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...


References


External links

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BTO BirdFacts - Little Grebe

Grebes of the World
by André Konter
Information and Illustration on Little Grebe from A Field Guide to Birds of Armenia
* * * * * {{Authority control
little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...
Birds of Africa Birds of Eurasia Birds of Japan
little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...
Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas Birds of Nepal