AI overview
The Horned Grebe is a small water bird found in northern regions of the Northern Hemisphere that dives underwater to hunt for fish and other aquatic prey. It's notable for the distinctive tufts of feathers on its head that give it its name, which are particularly prominent during breeding season.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
horned grebe
Species
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderPodicipediformes
- FamilyPodicipedidae
Habitatmarine, brackish, freshwater
Observations32,645
A medium-sized (12-15 inches) grebe, the Horned Grebe in summer is most easily identified by its dark back and head, brown neck and flanks, and conspicuous yellow feather plumes on the head. In winter, this species becomes black above and pale below. This species is perhaps most easily confused with the related Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis); that species may be separated from the Horned Grebe in summer by its black neck and flanks and in winter by its darker neck and face. The Horned Grebe occurs across wide area of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America, this species breeds across central Alaska, western Canada, and locally in the western United States, wintering along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California, along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Texas, inland in the southeastern U.S., and locally in the interior west. In the Old World, this species breeds from Iceland and Scotland east to eastern Siberia, wintering as far south as the Mediterranean Sea and the Korean peninsula. Horned Grebes breed in small ponds and shallow marshes, preferring areas with thick vegetation to more open water. In winter, this species may be found on large bodies of water, inc
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Article
The horned grebe or Slavonian grebe (Podiceps auritus) is a relatively small and threatened species of waterbird in the family Podicipedidae. There are two subspecies, P. a. auritus (Slavonian grebe), which breeds in Eurasia, and P. a. cornutus (horned grebe), which breeds in North America. The Eurasian subspecies is distributed over most of northern Europe and northern Asia, breeding from Iceland east to the Russian Far East. The North American subspecies spans most of Canada and some of the United States. A small population was cited in Greenland in 1973, but is not mapped or further mentioned by subsequent authors.
The American name 'horned' refers to the orange-yellow crest feathers located above and behind the eyes, called "horns". The English name, originally 'Sclavonian', is first attested by George Montagu in his 1802 Ornithological Dictionary, from Sclavonia, an old name for northern Prussia, referring to the species' main breeding area in Europe; the spelling was emended (without any reason given) to the current 'Slavonian' by Hartert in 1912.