Eared grebe Podiceps nigricollis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 9 inches Wingspan: 23 inches
• Sexes similar
• Small, stocky-bodied grebe with short, thin bill with lower mandible beveled upwards at the tip
• Black bill with no pale tip
• Feet set far back on body and trail awkwardly behind body in flight
• Head triangular, with a peak towards the center of the head
• White secondaries visible in flight

Adult alternate:

• Black head with a golden ray of feathers radiating from behind eye
• Black neck and back
• Reddish flanks

Adult basic:

• Slate-gray head, face, hindneck and back
• White chin contrasts with dark face and dusky foreneck
• Whitish flanks and belly

Similar species:

Pied-billed Grebe has thick, horn-colored bill and brown plumage. Red-necked Grebe is much larger, and has a longer bill that is yellow at the base. Horned Grebe is similar, but has a straighter bill without an uptilt at the tip and a blockier head without a peak at the center of the crown. In basic plumage Horned Grebe has a white face, while in alternate plumage it is separated by the golden eyeline and reddish neck. Birds in transition between basic and alternate plumage are best distinguished by structural features, as the plumage can be quite variable.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.