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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Podiceps grisegena
Red-necked Grebe

 
Scientific Name: Podiceps grisegena (Boddaert, 1783)
English Name: Red-necked Grebe
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-RNGR
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Podicipediformes Podicipedidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5?B (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status: Not at Risk (May 1982)
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: In all plumages, identified by its large size and robust bill with yellowish base. In breeding plumage, head has black cap and large, definitive pale-gray cheek patch extending upwards to behind eye. Foreneck and upper breast chestnut; belly pale; sides and flanks grayish. Upperparts dark brownish black. Wings dark, with two prominent white patches: one on secondaries, the other on leading edge of wing. In winter plumage, head has black cap; mouse-gray patch on ear-coverts; and white crescent extending from white chin and throat upward behind ear coverts. Overall appears somewhat dingy, with white or light gray foreneck blending to dark gray-black hindneck (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).
Global Reproduction Comments: Egg-laying peaks in June in many areas. Male and female in turn incubate usually 3-5 eggs for 22-27 days. Young are tended by both parents, independent probably at 8-10 weeks. Usually 1 brood/year. Usually nests solitarily, sometimes in loose colony.
Global Ecology Comments: Breeding territory size variable, reflects food supply and other ecological factors. Each breeding pair usually defends about 68-114 meters of shoreline and associated waters, where all activities take place (Palmer 1962). Occasionally, pairs may nest as little as 9 meters apart.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Northward migration along U.S. Pacific coast starts in March; movements through western interior occur late April-May. Arrives in all except most northern breeding areas by May. Typically arrives at lakes in spring shortly before complete breakup of ice (late Apr-mid-May) (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999). Return to coastal wintering areas mostly complete by mid-November, though some linger on large inland lakes until late fall. Lake Ontario is an important spring stopover in the east.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Winters along seacoasts, bays, and estuaries. In migration, found on lakes, ponds, and rivers. Nests mainly on shallow, freshwater lakes (>2 ha.) or shallow protected marsh areas and secluded bays of larger lakes, usually with at least some emergent vegetation and fish populations (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999). Nest is usually in reeds along the margins of shallow lakes; made of dead and rotting reeds and flags, water mosses, etc. raised slightly above the surface of the water, and eggs are generally wet and almost awash (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). Sites are chosen for combination of shelter from wind and waves, availability of nest materials and anchorage, easy swimming access, proximity to open water, and distance from shore-bound predators (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Feeds on small fish where available, but also eats aquatic and land insects, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic worms, tadpoles, salamander eggs and some vegetable matter. Eats feathers. A visual predator, pursues fish and other swimming prey underwater and plucks items off bottom and off vegetation. Fish may be the principle food item in winter (Stout and Neuchterlein 1999).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 51/ / 1023
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Holarctic. Breeding range extends from Alaska and western and south-central Canada south to Washington, Montana, northeastern South Dakota, Minnesota, and rarely elsewhere in northern United States; also Europe and northern Asia. During the nonbreeding season, the range extends coastally from Alaska to southern California and from Nova Scotia to central Florida (mainly north of Chesapeake Bay), casually along Gulf Coast; also in the Old World. Areas of highest winter density in North America include waters around Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia and the Bay of Fundy (Root 1988).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Gotthardt, T. A., and G. Hammerson. Reviewed by Tamara Mills, USFWS, Anchorage, AK
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2006
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT. Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, and M.C.E. McNall. 1990. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 1. Nonpasserines: Introduction, Loons through Waterfowl. Royal B.C. Mus. in association with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. 514pp.
Cogswell, H. L. 1977. Water birds of California. Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 399 pp.
De Smet, K. D. 1987. Organochlorines, predators and reproductive success of the red-necked grebe in southern Manitoba. Condor 89:460-467.
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1992. Birds in Jeopardy: the Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 259 pp.
Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1987. Diving birds of North America. Univ. Nebraska Press, Lincoln. xii + 292 pp.
Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
Palmer, R. S. (editor). 1962. Handbook of North American birds. Vol. 1. Loons through flamingos. Yale University Press, New Haven. 567 pp.
Root, T. 1988. Atlas of wintering North American birds: An analysis of Christmas Bird Count data. University of Chicago Press. 336 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2006. Species Summary: Podiceps grisegena. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 6, 2026).