- Podiceps major
Identification
Approximately 67–77 cm (26½-30¼ in). The largest and longest-necked grebe in South America.
- Large
- Dagger-like bill
- Long neck
Adult breeding
- Blackish-brown with green gloss above
- Browner on wings
- Upper breast and flanks chestnut
- White underparts
- Short tufted crest on nape
- Grey ear-coverts, lores , chin, and throat
- Chestnut sides of neck and foreneck
- Black bill
- Blackish-grey legs
Adult Non-breeding
Similar to adult breeding
- Greyer above
- Duller flanks
- Whiter underparts
- Duller crown
- Whiter cheeks giving a more distinctly capped effect
Juvenile
Similar to Non-breeding but duller and browner and face and neck with indistinct stripes.
Flight
- Wings dark above
- Broad white trailing edge to secondaries
- White underwing coverts
Variation
Southern birds have darker sides of head
Distribution
Southern South America from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil south to Tierra del Fuego and north on the Pacific coast to Coquimba, Chile and again from Pisco north to Piura, Peru.
Vagrant to the Falkland Islands. There are two old records from Spain but these are extremely unlikely to involve genuine vagrants. Common in Patagonia.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 2 subspecies[1]:
- P. m. major:
- P. m. navasi:
- Southern Argentina and southern Chile
Habitat
Lowland lakes and rivers moving to coastal lagoons and estuaries after breeding.
Behaviour
Especially in southern end of range will winter on the sea, sometimes in congregations.
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of fish, though apparently insects and shelfish are also though to be eaten.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2014)
- Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Great Grebe. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Great_Grebe
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
