Horned Grebe II

by Dawn Currie

Title

Horned Grebe II

Artist

Dawn Currie

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

Photographic artwork by Dawn Currie. Horned Grebe in winter plumage photographed in Merritt Island National Wildlife Sanctuary

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Horned Grebe in non-breading plumage at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus): Familiar to most U.S birders in its black-and-white winter plumage, the Horned Grebe is more striking in its red-and-black breeding feathers. Its "horns" are yellowish patches of feathers behind its eyes that it can raise and lower at will. To see the birds in their breeding plumage, a birder has to travel to western Canada or Alaska during the summer months.

The Horned Grebe regularly eats some of its own feathers, enough that its stomach usually contains a matted plug of them. This plug may function as a filter or may hold fish bones in the stomach until they can be digested. The parents even feed feathers to their chicks to get the plug started early.

A sleeping or resting Horned Grebe puts its neck on its back with its head off to one side and facing forward. It keeps one foot tucked up under a wing and uses the other one to maneuver in the water. Having one foot up under a wing makes it float with one "high" side and one "low" side.

Uploaded

April 25th, 2014

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