Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

Today we feature a very decorative birdy, a Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus. The scientific name means 'crested vent-foot' (alluding to its feet set far back on its body). I've featured  grebes before in this column. They're fascinating birds, highly adapted to their diving lifestyle. In South Africa, the Great Crested Grebe isn't very common, but I've been lucky to have seen it fairly well once, in the Turfloop Nature Reserve. These birds are about chicken-sized, reaching 51 cm/20" in length and a weight of 1.5 kg/3.3 lbs.

Flamingo Relatives

An amazing relationship has been discovered by genetic and morphological studies, between grebes and flamingos. Aside from both inhabiting water bodies, they look extremely different in every aspect of their build. Flamingos most resemble birds like cranes, storks and herons, while grebes most resemble the loons or divers of the north. But indeed, flamingos and grebes are more closely related to each other than to the birds that resemble them in form and lifestyle. This again shows how malleable the bodies and lives of birds (not to mention all other things) are through the process of evolution. In this case it has been operating for a very long time. It is possible that the shared ancestor of grebes and flamingos was alive even back when the non-avian dinosaurs still ruled, the Late Cretaceous. But the oldest true grebe fossils we have found, date to the Oligocene Period, between about 39 and 23 million years ago. Taxonomists are proposing a group called the Mirandornithes ('miraculous birds') to include the flamingos and the grebes.

Amazing Displays

Grebes are interesting in that both males and females grow beautiful decorative head plumage during the breeding season. The Great Crested Grebe is one of the most elaborate. Its breeding head plumage includes big, fuffy, reddish-brown cheeks, and a dark crest that separates into horn-like tips. Outside of the breeding season, the grebes have whitish faces with dark caps, and no lengthened cheek or crown feathers.

The courtship displays of the Great Crested Grebe mostly serve to strengthen the bonds between the couple. But displays are also used by birds when first setting out to find a mate to breed with. The displays usually start at the onset of the breeding season. The male and female typically live separately when not breeding, so the display helps them, when finding each other as the new season starts, to recognize each other and quickly re-establish the close bond between them. The first element of this display is the 'discovery ceremony'. One bird swims towards the other under the water, then rises up dramatically in what is called the 'ghost penguin display'. The other bird, on seeing its mate, draws its head in and spreads its wings in the 'cat display', showing the white feathers of its inner wings. They may also both swim rapidly towards each other, then rise up high breast to breast, wagging their heads from side to side to show their cheeks. Or both birds act nonchalant, preening their own feathers in an exaggerated fashion. They may grab pieces of aquatic vegetation and present them to each other, symbolizing nest material, in what is called the weed ceremony. The final part of the display sees the birds rapidly pattering over the water side by side, stretching their necks forward, in what is called the retreat ceremony. Then they mate, the male jumping on the female's back and nibbling at her head plumage. This happens on the nest, which is a big pile of floating vegetation anchored either to plants at the water edge or below the surface.

Both sexes construct the nest platform, and the female lays two to five eggs on it. Both sexes incubate. When having to leave the nest, as when there is a threat or disturbance, the parents will cover the eggs with vegetation to hide them. The chicks hatch open-eyed and covered in down. They have striped plumage which conceals them well if they need to hide within reeds or grass at the waterside. They can already swim, but will sometimes stay on the nest while the parents are away. Alternatively they ride on the backs of their swimming parents. The male and female divide the brood between them, each time accompanying the same chicks. These gradually learn to dive and to catch their prey, which varies from fish and tadpoles to a variety of aquatic invertebrates.

The great crested grebe is remarkably widely distributed. It occurs throughout the more high-lying and temperate parts of Africa. It is present through most of Europe and Asia, the ones of the more northern regions migrating southward to escape the cold winters. They also occur in the moister parts of Australia, and South Island of New Zealand. They inhabit a variety of waterbodies, and are sometimes seen on the coast. In South Africa, they can be seen as an indicator of water quality, as they will avoid water that is turbid or carrying a large load of organic material or algae.

Great crested grebes have historically suffered from humans. In the Nineteenth Century, their head plumes were used for women's hats while their dense body feathers were called 'grebe fur' and used for women's capes and muffs. This led to the species almost becoming extinct in Britain, and declining in Europe. This practice having stopped, the grebes made a good recovery. At present, the species is abundant and widespread enough not to be considered of conservation concern.

Willem

06.05.24 Front Page

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