Specie's Page                                               Water Fowl - Great-crested Grebe

Great-crested Grebe

UK Status: Resident.

Habitat: This Large Grebe likes large well vegetated open pools and lakes, and doesn't often come close to the shore especially when nesting.

Breeding: Mating pairs of Great-crested Grebes build the nest together. The nest is a floating platform of water weeds, tightly woven together. Both birds incubate the four chalky white eggs, from as soon as the first egg is laid, and both parents care for their young. Young grebes are capable of diving and swimming very soon after hatching, though they ride on the parents backs a lot.

Comment: This grebe is reasonably common in the British Isles with nearly five thousand breeding pairs in the summer. They found mostly in England and North Wales, they are less common, and more localised in Ireland and Scotland. During the winter months the numbers are increased some what by incoming over wintering birds.