The Little Grebe

Of the three grebe species found in Botswana, the Little Grebe is the most common and widespread. The Great Crested Grebe is found in the southeast, on waterbodies around Kanye, Gaborone and Lobatse, together with the Black-necked, which also occurs in the Makgadikgadi. The Little Grebe by contrast can be found throughout the country wherever there is water.

To the layperson, the Little Grebe is a kind of duck, but they differ in very obvious ways. Grebes all have their legs positioned very far back on the body, and have lobed rather than webbed toes. Their beaks differ from the spatulate, detritus-filtering beaks of ducks because grebes feed on aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles and small fish. Grebes also have the endearing habit of carrying their young on their backs until they can swim strongly.

Little Grebe carrying a small fish (D Derksen) Little Grebe carrying chicks on its back (D Derksen)

Little Grebes appear overnight at ephemeral waterbodies, even remote ones in the Kalahari. How they find them remains a mystery. The Little Grebe does not impress one with its power of flight, and it is never seen flying during the day (apart from skittering clumsily along the water surface). They must cover vast distances at night, but this still doesn’t explain how they know where the temporary pans are. When Lake Ngami filled with water in 2004 for the first time in decades, thousands of Little Grebes arrived overnight in characteristic fashion, and immediately commenced breeding.

The most fascinating aspect of the Little Grebe’s lifestyle is its breeding biology. The floating nest, constructed out of aquatic vegetation, look just like ... well, aquatic vegetation. It is consequently easily overlooked. This is especially true since the incubating bird covers the white eggs with loose pieces of waterweed when it vacates the nest when disturbed.

An active Little Grebe nest (K Oake) The same nest, with eggs exposed (K Oake)

When freshly laid the eggs are cream-white, but they soon become stained by their regular contact with the decaying vegetation of the nest, and turn an unattractive beige colour. Incubation, by both parents, starts as soon as the first egg is laid, but in our warm climate, the birds do not need to warm the eggs all the time. In fact, a major part of their nest duties is fanning the eggs with wet wings to cool them.

Adult Little Grebe incubating (left) and fanning the eggs to keep them cool (right) (P Hancock)

The young are precocious and nidifugous, which means that they leave the nest soon after hatching. They can of course float and swim, as one would expect of an aquatic species, but are not averse to riding on the parent’s back.

The down-covered chick has distinctive head-markings, and is easily identifiable (D Derksen)

Film-maker and photographer Ken Oake has even observed the adult diving with a chick under its wing! The Little Grebe is an under-rated species which is overlooked simply because it is relatively common. Pete Hancock