Great Crested Grebe
Introduction
The Great Crested Grebe is a graceful waterbird with ornate head plumage and a dance-like courtship display.
Uniquely suited for life on the water, the Great Crested Grebe has legs placed far back on its body, which makes it clumsy on land. In summer, birds primarily inhabit reed-bordered lakes, where they eat fish and aquatic invertebrates. They can be found offshore in the winter months, when their drabber plumage and long neck means they can be confused with divers and other grebe species.
Historically persecuted for its beautiful feathers, the Great Crested Grebe population was once reduced to as few as 32 known pairs in England. Numbers increased from the mid-19th century up until 1996, after which little evidence of population change has been detected.
- Our Trends Explorer gives you the latest insight into how this species' population is changing.
Key Stats
Identification
ID Videos
This section features BTO training videos headlining this species, or featuring it as a potential confusion species.
Winter Grebes
Songs and Calls
Call:
Begging call:
Status and Trends
Conservation Status
Population Change
This species was believed to be on the verge of extinction in Britain around 1860, when only 32-72 pairs were known in England (Holloway 1996). A subsequent increase followed reductions in persecution, aided by statutory protection, and the creation of extensive new habitat in the form of gravel pits (Gibbons et al. 1993). Increase was tracked by special surveys to around 7,000 adult birds in Britain by 1975 (Hughes et al. 1979). The BBS provides the first national-scale annual monitoring of this species and indicates no clear trend since 1995. Winter numbers have shown a long-term shallow increase which peaked in the mid-2000s, followed by a subsequent shallow decline until around 2013 (WeBS: Frost et al. 2020). A decline has occurred across Europe since 1990 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).
Distribution
Wintering Great Crested Grebes occur on lowland lakes, estuaries and on shallow sea coasts. They are particularly abundant in central and southern England and central Scotland. The breeding distribution is similar, although restricted to freshwater lakes and rivers.
Occupied 10-km squares in UK
or view it on Bird Atlas Mapstore.
or view it on Bird Atlas Mapstore.
European Distribution Map
Distribution Change
Breeding and wintering ranges have expanded in recent decades.
Change in occupied 10-km squares in the UK
or view it on Bird Atlas Mapstore.
or view it on Bird Atlas Mapstore.
Seasonality
Great Crested Grebes are recorded fairly consistently throughout the year.
Weekly pattern of occurrence
The graph shows when the species is present in the UK, with taller bars indicating a higher likelihood of encountering the species in appropriate regions and habitats.
Habitats
Breeding season habitats
Relative frequency by habitat
The graph shows the habitats occupied in the breeding season, with the most utilised habitats shown at the top. Bars of similar size indicate the species is equally likely to be recorded in those habitats.
Movement
Britain & Ireland movement
Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland
Dots show the foreign destinations of birds ringed in Britain & Ireland, and the origins of birds ringed overseas that were subsequently recaptured, resighted or found dead in Britain & Ireland. Dot colours indicate the time of year that the species was present at the location.
- Winter (Nov-Feb)
- Spring (Mar-Apr)
- Summer (May-Jul)
- Autumn (Aug-Oct)
European movements
EuroBirdPortal uses birdwatcher's records, such as those logged in BirdTrack to map the flows of birds as they arrive and depart Europe. See maps for this species here.
The Eurasian-African Migration Atlas shows movements of individual birds ringed or recovered in Europe. See maps for this species here.
Biology
Productivity and Nesting
Nesting timing
Egg measurements
Clutch Size
Survival and Longevity
Survival is shown as the proportion of birds surviving from one year to the next and is derived from bird ringing data. It can also be used to estimate how long birds typically live.
View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report.
lifespan
Biometrics
Wing length and body weights are from live birds (source).
Wing length
Ring Size
Classification, names and codes
Classification and Codes
- Order: Podicipediformes
- Family: Podicipedidae
- Scientific name: Podiceps cristatus
- Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
- BTO 2-letter code: GG
- BTO 5-letter code: GRCGR
- Euring code number: 90
Alternate species names
- Catalan: cabussó emplomallat
- Czech: potápka rohác
- Danish: Toppet Lappedykker
- Dutch: Fuut
- Estonian: tuttpütt
- Finnish: silkkiuikku
- French: Grèbe huppé
- Gaelic: Gobhlachan-mòr
- German: Haubentaucher
- Hungarian: búbos vöcsök
- Icelandic: Toppgoði
- Irish: Foitheach Mór
- Italian: Svasso maggiore
- Latvian: cekuldukuris
- Lithuanian: ausuotasis kragas
- Norwegian: Toppdykker
- Polish: perkoz dwuczuby
- Portuguese: mergulhão-de-poupa
- Slovak: potápka chochlatá
- Slovenian: copasti ponirek
- Spanish: Somormujo lavanco
- Swedish: skäggdopping
- Welsh: Gwyach Fawr Gopog
- English folkname(s): Satin Bird, Gaunt
Research
Causes of Change and Solutions
Causes of change
There is little good evidence available regarding the drivers of the breeding population change in this species in the UK.
Further information on causes of change
No further information available.
Information about conservation actions
The Great Crested Grebe successfully recovered after being subject to persecution in Victorian times, and BBS results indicate that numbers have been stable since at least 1994; hence this is not a species of conservation concern and specific conservation action to benefit this species is not currently required. Great Crested Grebes prefer mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions and hence may currently be benefiting from nutrient inputs from agriculture (provided conditions do not become hypertrophic), although any benefit is likely to be at the expense of other waterbirds and other taxa which are negatively affected by eutrophication (Keller & Korner-Nievergelt 2019). The continuation of local management actions and wider policies to maintain and create good quality wetland habitats for other wildfowl species are likely to continue to benefit this species.
Publications (1)
The risk of extinction for birds in Great Britain
Author: Stanbury, A., Brown, A., Eaton, M., Aebischer, N., Gillings, S., Hearn, R., Noble, D., Stroud, D. & Gregory, R.
Published: 2017
The UK has lost seven species of breeding birds in the last 200 years. Conservation efforts to prevent this from happening to other species, both in the UK and around the world, are guided by species’ priorities lists, which are often informed by data on range, population size and the degree of decline or increase in numbers. These are the sorts of data that BTO collects through its core surveys.
01.09.17
Papers
