No. 44 on our checklistLittle Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

The Little Grebe is the smallest grebe in Europe, a round little diver with almost no neck and a fluffy pale rear that makes it look like a floating ball of feathers. In the Danube Delta it is above all a winter bird: few pairs nest here, but from autumn to spring many more arrive from the north and spread over the open channels and lakes, diving the moment the boat comes closer.

When to see it in the Danube Delta and Dobrogea

1. JanModerate
2. FebModerate
3. MarModerate
4. AprModerate
5. MayRare
6. JunRare
7. JulRare
8. AugRare
9. SepRare
10. OctModerate
11. NovModerate
12. DecModerate

Status here

All year.

IUCN Red List

Least Concern

Our checklist

No. 44 of 385 · see the full checklist

How to recognise it

Size and shape do most of the work. No other grebe in Europe is this small, and none has such a short neck and blunt, rounded body. When it is relaxed it fluffs up the pale feathers of its rear end, which gives it the look of a little powder puff on the water.

From spring to late summer the adults are dark brown above, with rich chestnut cheeks, throat and foreneck. The best mark is a bright yellowish green spot at the base of the short bill, which shines on the dark head even in poor light. In winter the colours fade to warm buff and brown, with paler cheeks and throat, and the bird looks plainer and lighter. Young birds have pale stripes on the sides of the head.

In winter it can be confused with the Black-necked Grebe, but that bird is black and white, with a red eye and a thin upturned bill. The Little Grebe stays brown and buff, never shows clean white cheeks, and is clearly smaller and rounder.

Voice and feeding

In the breeding season the Little Grebe gives a loud, rippling trill that rises and falls, often by both birds of a pair together. Where it nests, it is heard far more often than it is seen. In winter it is mostly silent, and you find it by watching the open water.

It feeds by diving in shallow water, usually not deeper than a metre, and takes water insects and their larvae, small crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles and small fish. It also picks insects from the surface and from plants. When alarmed it does not fly but dives, and comes up again a long way off, often under cover.

Floating nests and chicks on the back

Like all grebes, the Little Grebe builds a floating nest of wet, rotting water plants, anchored to reeds or branches in shallow water. Both parents build, and both incubate the eggs for about three weeks. When they leave the nest, they pull wet weed over the eggs to hide them. The eggs are white when laid and soon stained brown by the wet nest material.

The chicks are striped and leave the nest soon after hatching. In their first days they often ride on a parent’s back while the other adult brings food. A pair usually raises two broods in a season. In the Danube Delta breeding is rare: the species prefers to nest further north, and most of the birds we see here are winter visitors.

Where to see it in the Danube Delta

The Little Grebe can be found in the Danube Delta in every month, but the season makes all the difference. From October to April birds from further north come here for the winter, and they are far more numerous than the few local breeding pairs. They feed on open, unfrozen water: wide channels, lakes and fish ponds, often alone or in small, loose groups. From May to September it is rare, hidden in the vegetation of a few quiet channels and small lakes. Our checklist marks it moderate from autumn to spring and rare in summer.

The best way to see one well is a slow, quiet boat that stops and waits at the edge of the reeds. The best time to look for it is on a winter day trip in the Danube Delta or a private 4 hour birdwatching trip in late autumn or early spring. On a small group birdwatching tour in late April it is still possible, before the last wintering birds leave.

Interesting facts

• A winter guest more than a local. In the Danube Delta more Little Grebes spend the winter than stay to nest. Breeding here is rare: the species prefers to nest further north, and comes south to the open water of the Danube Delta for the winter.
• It travels by night. Little Grebes migrate in the dark, so they simply disappear from one lake and turn up on another without anyone seeing them fly.
• Lobes, not webs. Like all grebes, it has no webbed feet. Each toe has its own broad lobe of skin, which opens on the backstroke and folds on the forward stroke, and the legs sit so far back that it can barely walk on land.
• A name for the summer dress. Ruficollis means “red neck”, after the chestnut cheeks and throat of the breeding plumage. In older English books it is called the Dabchick.

Status and threats

The Little Grebe is widespread across Europe, Africa and Asia and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. It needs shallow, clean, still water with plenty of plants for cover and nesting. Where reed beds are burned or cleared, banks are concreted, or water is polluted, it disappears.

In the Danube Delta today the greatest threat to nature is speed boats. For this grebe and for every bird that nests on the water, the waves of fast boats in narrow channels wash over floating nests and sweep the eggs away. This is why our boats move slowly in the channels.