---
title: "What the sources say about the Great Crested Grebe | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "51 claims from the Great Crested Grebe profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/great-crested-grebe-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-crested-grebe/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Great Crested Grebe (*Podiceps cristatus*)

> 51 claims from the Great Crested Grebe profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Great Crested Grebe](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-crested-grebe/)

## Podiceps cristatus (great crested grebe). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Podiceps_cristatus/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the largest grebe in Europe | Great crested grebes are the largest grebes in Europe. |
| running 46 to 61 cm long with a wingspan of 59 to 73 cm | Range length 46 to 61 cm ... Range wingspan 59 to 73 cm |
| within a range of 800 to 1,490 grams | Range mass 800 to 1490 g |
| Its legs are set far back for swimming and diving | legs set far back for efficient swimming and diving |
| grebes cannot travel across land | grebes are aquatic specialists and cannot travel across land |
| It finds prey by sight | They detect prey in the water using visual cues. |
| eats mainly large fish, with roach, perch and smelt among its favored foods | The diet of great crested grebes consists mainly of large fish ... Their favored foods include roach (Rutilus rutilus), perch (Perca fluviatilis), and smelt (Osmerus eperlanus). |
| it forages most at dawn and dusk, possibly because that is when its prey are closest to the surface | They forage the most during dawn and dusk, possibly because this is when their prey are closest to the surface. |
| Breeding birds need shallow open fresh or brackish water, with vegetation on the banks and in the water for their nests | Breeding habitats consist of shallow open bodies of fresh or brackish water. There must also be vegetation on the banks and in the water in order to provide suitable locations for nests. |
| The species lives year-round from Western Europe and Britain to parts of Africa, Australia and New Zealand, breeds east through southern Russia to Mongolia, and winters as far as southern Asia | Great crested grebes are residents of Western Europe, Britain, and Ireland, parts of southern and eastern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Breeding populations are found from Eastern Europe through Southern Russia and to Mongolia. After migration, wintering populations can be found on the coastal waters of Europe, southern Africa, and Australia, as well as in bodies of water throughout southern Asia. |
| In Victorian Britain its breast plumage and head plumes decorated clothing, which greatly threatened the species | Their breast plumage and head plumes were also used for decoration on clothing during Victorian times in Britain. This, however, greatly threatened the species |
| Courtship begins with the male and female facing each other, necks held up straight and crests erected, both shaking their heads from side to side | It begins with the male and female facing each other, necks held up straight, showing the whites of their necks. Their ears are vertical, the crest is erected, and the tail is cocked. They both shake their heads from side-to-side |
| Nests are made of aquatic weeds and reeds woven into existing water plants | Nests are made of aquatic weeds, reeds, thickets, and kelp fronds. These materials are woven into existing water plants. |
| They are suspended in the water, which protects the clutch from terrestrial predators, and must be reachable from the water | The nests are suspended in the water, which protects the clutch from terrestrial predators. ... Nests need to be accessible from water |
| Clutches range from 1 to 9 eggs but average 3 to 4 | Clutches range from 1 to 9 eggs, but average between 3 and 4 eggs. |
| both parents incubate equally for 27 to 29 days | Incubation lasts 27 to 29 days and both males and females incubate equally. |
| Once the chicks leave the nest, the parents take turns carrying them on their backs for up to 3 weeks | Once the chicks leave the nest, the parents take turns carrying young on their back out into the water for up to 3 weeks. |
| The Animal Diversity Web account links that to avoiding juvenile predation, though it found no information in the literature about which predators take great crested grebe chicks or adults | There is no information in the literature about specific predators of juvenile or adult great crested grebes. ... To avoid juvenile predation, adults carry chicks on their backs for up to 3 weeks after hatching. |
| The predator it does name is the Eurasian coot, which eats eggs | their main predators, Eurasian coots (Fulica atra), which prey on eggs |
| A parent covers the eggs with nest material before leaving, which has been found to protect them effectively against coots, and when the nest is disturbed it dives and resurfaces farther away | they cover the eggs with nest material before leaving the nest. This behavior has been found to effectively protect against their main predators, Eurasian coots (Fulica atra), which prey on eggs. When the nest is disturbed, the parent covers the eggs, dives into the water, and resurfaces in a location farther away from the nest. |
| The diving bird | Great crested grebes are mainly diving birds and prefer to dive and swim rather than fly. |
| whose courtship runs from paired head-shaking | It begins with the male and female facing each other, necks held up straight ... They both shake their heads from side-to-side |
| whose chicks ride on their parents' backs | the parents take turns carrying young on their back out into the water for up to 3 weeks |
| Lakes, artificial waters, slow rivers, swamps, bays and lagoons | Great crested grebes can be found in a variety of aquatic habitats, including lakes, artificial bodies of water, slow flowing rivers, swamps, bays, and lagoons. |
| across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand | Great crested grebes are residents of Western Europe, Britain, and Ireland, parts of southern and eastern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Breeding populations are found from Eastern Europe through Southern Russia and to Mongolia. |
| Mainly fish such as roach, perch and smelt, plus insects, crustaceans, molluscs and amphibians | The diet of great crested grebes consists mainly of large fish, but also includes insects, crustaceans, molluscs, adult and larval amphibians, and invertebrate larvae. Their favored foods include roach (Rutilus rutilus), perch (Perca fluviatilis), and smelt (Osmerus eperlanus). |
| Great crested grebes eat their own feathers more often when their diet is low in indigestible matter | They ingest their feathers more frequently when their diet is low in indigestible matter |
| The Animal Diversity Web account says this is thought to be a way to make pellets the bird can eject, cutting down parasites in its gastric system | this is thought to be a way to create pellets that can be ejected in order to decrease the occurrence of parasites in the gastric system |
| Parents take turns carrying the young out onto the water on their backs for up to 3 weeks, and still guard them in the 4th week | the parents take turns carrying young on their back out into the water for up to 3 weeks. The parents still guard the chicks in the 4th week. |
| The Animal Diversity Web account gives avoiding juvenile predation as the reason, though it found no information in the literature about specific predators of great crested grebe chicks or adults | There is no information in the literature about specific predators of juvenile or adult great crested grebes. ... To avoid juvenile predation, adults carry chicks on their backs for up to 3 weeks after hatching. |
| The example it offers is another species: western grebe chicks are preyed on by fish such as bass and pike | However, chicks of another grebe species, western grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis), are preyed on by fish such as bass species (Micropterus) and pike species (Esox). |
| facing each other, both birds shake their heads from side to side | It begins with the male and female facing each other, necks held up straight ... They both shake their heads from side-to-side (note: vibe.reason, settled in #836.) |

## Great Crested Grebe BirdFacts. British Trust for Ornithology.

https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/great-crested-grebe

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The British Trust for Ornithology gives its weight as 993 grams | Weight 993g Eggs 3-4 |
| persecution for its feathers once reduced England's population to as few as 32 known pairs | Historically persecuted for its beautiful feathers, the Great Crested Grebe population was once reduced to as few as 32 known pairs in England. |

## AnAge entry for Podiceps cristatus. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Podiceps_cristatus

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| That is a maximum recorded age, not a typical lifespan | Maximum longevity 19.2 years (wild) (note: labels the figure as AnAge does, a maximum from banding studies; AnAge gives no typical lifespan) |
| the record from banding studies is a wild bird of 19.2 years | Maximum longevity 19.2 years (wild) ... Maximum longevity from banding studies is 19.2 years [ 0450 ]. (note: AnAge's source [0450] is Fransson et al. (2010), EURING list of longevity records for European birds. A maximum from ringing, labelled as a record, not a typical lifespan.) |
| The record from banding (ringing) studies is 19.2 years for a wild bird, a figure AnAge takes from the EURING list of longevity records for European birds | Maximum longevity 19.2 years (wild) ... Source ref. 450 ... Maximum longevity from banding studies is 19.2 years [ 0450 ]. ... [ 0450 ] Fransson et al. (2010), EURING list of longevity records for European birds |

## Podiceps cristatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T22696602A166312625.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-3.rlts.t22696602a166312625.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| IUCN rates it Least Concern | Least Concern (LC) (note: GBIF's copy of the Red List, checked against the taxon id in the DOI) |

## Huxley (1914). The Courtship-habits of the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), with an Addition to the Theory of Sexual Selection. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1914.tb07052.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The biologist Julian Huxley described these displays in 1914 and gave their parts names | By Julian S. Huxley", B.A., Professor of Biology in the Bice Institute ... [Received March 14, 1914 : Read April 21, 1914.] (note: Huxley's title in the paper: Professor of Biology in the Rice Institute (OCR 'Bice'). The names themselves are the weed-trick and Penguin-dance claims.) |
| In one display he watched, each bird gave about a dozen or fifteen violent shakes | after each bird had given about a dozen or fifteen violent shakes |
| He called diving for water-weed and appearing again with it in the bill the "weed-trick." | Let us call the diving for water-weed and the appearing again with it in the bill the weed-trick |
| He also watched a pair surface holding weed, swim toward each other and rise quickly from the water into an almost erect position, their breasts touching | both were holding in their beaks a bunch of dark ribbony weed ... swam straight towards him at a good pace ... made off to meet her ... they both sprang up from the water into an almost erect position ... a very quick rising-up of the birds ... the two birds came actually to touch each other with their breasts |
| rocking gently from side to side "as if they were swaying to the music of a dance." | they stayed for a few seconds rocking ... from side to side upon the point of their breasts ; it was an ecstatic motion, as if they were swaying to the music of a dance (note: the OCR reads 'gentty' for 'gently', so the quote skips that word) |
| He called the rapid swimming together and the erect breast-to-breast figure that follows the "Penguin-dance," because the general resemblance to penguins "forced itself upon the mind." | the rapid swimming ... subsequent figure erect ... to breast, let us call the Penguin-dance , for here once more the general resemblance to Penguins ... forced itself upon the mind (note: the OCR mangles 'together' and 'breast-to-breast' ('brea,st-to-breast'), so the quote is fragmented around them) |
| to a breast-to-breast 'Penguin-dance,' | the rapid swimming ... subsequent figure erect ... to breast, let us call the Penguin-dance |
| A head-shaking courtship duet that can include a breast-to-breast 'Penguin-dance' | the rapid swimming ... subsequent figure erect ... to breast, let us call the Penguin-dance (note: 'duet' is ADW's communication-mode tag ('Other Communication Modes duets'); head-shaking is the ADW courtship claim above) |
| The biologist Julian Huxley gave the parts of the grebe's courtship names in 1914 | By Julian S. Huxley", B.A., Professor of Biology in the Bice Institute ... [Received March 14, 1914 : Read April 21, 1914.] (note: Huxley's title in the paper: Professor of Biology in the Rice Institute (OCR 'Bice'). The names themselves are the weed-trick and Penguin-dance claims.) |
| Diving for water-weed and surfacing with it in the bill was the 'weed-trick.' | Let us call the diving for water-weed and the appearing again with it in the bill the weed-trick |
| The rapid swimming together and the erect breast-to-breast figure that follows was the 'Penguin-dance,' because the general resemblance to penguins 'forced itself upon the mind.' | the rapid swimming ... subsequent figure erect ... to breast, let us call the Penguin-dance , for here once more the general resemblance to Penguins ... forced itself upon the mind |
| In one pair he watched, the two birds held that pose for a few seconds, rocking gently from side to side 'as if they were swaying to the music of a dance.' | they stayed for a few seconds rocking ... from side to side upon the point of their breasts ; it was an ecstatic motion, as if they were swaying to the music of a dance |
| they dive for water-weed and rise breast to breast in what Julian Huxley named the Penguin-dance | Let us call the diving for water-weed and the appearing again with it in the bill the weed-trick (note: vibe.reason, settled in #836; the Penguin-dance naming is claimed on the page from the same paper.) |