Great Crested Grebe

MAE © 2011

The Great Crested Grebes are definitely back in the waters and are preparing for their mating rituel. I have yet to see this beautiful ballet, but the footage on the internet promises something spectacular. In Dutch this bird is known as a Fuut; the Latin name is: Podiceps Cristatus.

As I mentioned earlier, the Great Crested Grebe has an elaborate mating display. Like all grebes, it nests on the water's edge, since its legs are set relatively far back and it is thus unable to walk very well. Usually two eggs are laid, and the fluffy, striped young grebe are often carried on the adult's back. In a clutch of two or more hatchlings, male and female grebes will each identify their 'favourites', which they alone will care for and teach

Unusually, young grebes are capable of swimming and diving almost at hatching. The adults teach these skills to their young by carrying them on their back and diving, leaving the chicks to float on the surface; they then re-emerge a few feet away so that the chicks may swim back onto them (source: WikiPedia)

 MAE © 2013

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, or RSBP for short, was formed to counter the barbarous trade in plumes for women's hats, a fashion responsible for the destruction of many thousands of egrets, birds of paradise and other species whose plumes had become fashionable in the late Victorian era

There had already been concern earlier in the century about the wholesale destruction of such native birds as great crested grebes and kittiwakes for their plumage, leading to such early legislation as the Sea Birds Preservation Act of 1869 and the Wild Birds Protection Act of 1880, but the trigger which led to the foundation of the Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889 was the continued wearing of ever more exotic plumes. Indeed the young Society was so successful that it was granted its Royal Charter in 1904, just 15 years after being founded  (source: RSPB Website).

To celebrate the beauty of this very strange bird, I will finish with three more pictures I took in the last couple of years.

MAE © 2013

MAE © 2011

MAE © 2012