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Little Grebe | Tachybaptus ruficollis
Dodaars | Zampullín Común
The Little Grebe is the smallest and by far the commonest grebe of southern Africa, a round, almost tailless waterbird found on nearly every dam and vlei. It dives at the slightest alarm and often gives itself away first by its whinnying trill.
Voice
A long, whinnying trill rising and falling, bibibibibibi, often sung in duet by a pair and carrying far over the water. Also a sharp weet as a contact call.
Recording: Beatrix Saadi-Varchmin — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 25 cm, compact and rounded, with a short pointed bill and a fluffy, rounded rear end. In breeding plumage the head and back are dark brown to blackish, the cheeks, throat and foreneck deep chestnut, and the bill has a conspicuous creamy-yellow patch at the base. The eye is pale yellow to reddish-brown. Outside the breeding season it is much duller: grey-brown above, pale buff on cheeks, neck and flanks, with a paler gape patch. The sexes are alike. Chicks have a black-and-white striped head. In flight, rarely seen, there is a narrow white trailing edge to the wing.
Confusion species
Black-Necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) is larger, with a slightly upturned bill, a steeper forehead and a red eye; in breeding plumage black with golden ear tufts, otherwise more crisply black and white than the drab Little Grebe. Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is much larger, with a long slender neck and a dagger-shaped bill. Young Red-Knobbed Coots and moorhens lack the fluffy rear and swim with a nodding head.
Habitat
Almost any fresh water with some fringing vegetation: dams, small lakes, vleis, quiet river backwaters, sewage ponds and temporary rain pools. It dives for aquatic insects, larvae, small fish, tadpoles and snails. The floating nest of plant material is anchored among water plants.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Found throughout the region wherever suitable water occurs; most numerous in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, eastern Botswana and Zimbabwe, and also in Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Angola. Scarce in the driest parts of the Namib and Kalahari, where it occupies temporary pools after rain. Beyond the region across much of Africa, Europe and Asia to Japan and New Guinea.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Seen on almost any dam all year; the birds are in full breeding plumage in the summer rains. Wait quietly on the bank after a dive: the bird often resurfaces a few metres away. After good rains Little Grebes appear surprisingly quickly on new pools, even far into arid country.
Conservation status
Not threatened and common. The species has benefited greatly from the construction of farm dams and reservoirs. There is local habitat loss through the draining of vleis and through pollution, but no noticeable decline in overall numbers.
Scientific name
Tachybaptus ruficollis | (Pallas, 1764)
Pallas described the species in 1764 as Colymbus ruficollis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Tachybaptus was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. Tachybaptus is Greek, from takhus 'fast' and baptō 'to sink under, dive'. ruficollis is Latin, from rufus 'reddish' and collum 'neck', after the chestnut throat and neck sides in breeding plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Holland.