WILDLIFE
GREAT CRESTED GREBE
By Susanne Masters
The satin bird.
Illustration by Alice Goodridge
On a dull day these are birds to cheer you up – they do a little dance, have fancy head plumes, carry their chicks around piggyback, and are a conservation success story.
Great crested grebes (Podiceps cristatus) are a bird to lift your spirits.
Great crested grebes perform dives for different reasons. Being fish eaters the primary reason for diving is catching fish. Diving provides them with an escape route when startled.