5 Things you may or may not know about Great Crested Grebes

5 Things you may or may not know about Great Crested Grebes

1. Great Crested Grebes actually have two crests, as well as shaggy frills that hang down from their cheeks, known as ‘tippets’; they are held erect during some displays.
2. In the lead-up to breeding season, Great Crested Grebes perform various elaborate courtship displays, including head shaking and the ‘weed dance’, but the most graceful is the ‘penguin dance’, where both birds stretch their necks upwards, rising vertically in the water with their chests touching gently.
3. Sometimes these displays are so effective at arousing the birds that the female grebe will mount the male.
4. Chicks can swim soon after they hatch, but sometimes, rather than making them swim, adult Great Crested Grebes instead give their stripy chicks a ride, carrying them around the wetland, nestled snugly on their back.
5. In an attempt to rid themselves of internal parasites, Great Crested Grebes have been seen to deliberately eat some of their own feathers to induce vomiting!