Adults: Breeding: Above, sooty. Breast and flanks, dappled with grey-brown. Belly, silky white. Head, glossy black with pear-shaped patch of chestnut extending from eye backwards to side of head and neck. Oval patch of pale yellow bare skin at gape. Wing, sooty with broad white band through middle remiges. Eye, orange-yellow. Bill, black with white tip. Feet, dark green-grey. Non-breeding: Head, dull. Throat and side of face, white. Bill, grey-brown.
Immatures: Similar to non-breeding adult, but with some stripes on the head.
Downy Young: Grey-black with patch of chestnut on crown and white stripes along sides of head, neck and back.
Other Names (World)
Australasian Grebe, Australian Grebe, Australasian Little Grebe, Australasian Little Grebe, Little Grebe, Australian Dabchick, Red-necked Grebe, Black-throated Grebe, 'Diver'
Common in the east and south-west, uncommon to common in tropical northern Australia and Tasmania. Sedentary, nomadic with possible northern movement in winter from southern Australia.
Habitat
Still, shallow fresh waters generally. Farm dams, freshwater wetlands with plentiful waterplants, sewerage ponds. In autumn - winter in southern Australia usually seen with Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) on larger open waters, sheltered bays.
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) [XC370757]
by Greg McLachlan from Wolli Creek, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) [XC706134]
by Marc Anderson from Woodlands Historic Park (near Greenvale), City of Hume, Victoria, Australia (begging call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Mostly September - March. Two - three broods reared.
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Nest
Floating raft-like structure, composed of aquatic plants, only a few centimeteres above the surface of the water, attached to reeds, twigs of a fallen branch or other debris. The bird covers the eggs with vegatation when leaving the nest.
Eggs (Guide)
4 - 7; chalky pale blue stained brown; ellipsoidal; about 35 x 25 mm. Incubation: 21 days; by both sexes.
Young
Precocial, semi-nidifugous.
Subspecies
Formerly included in Podiceps. Forms superspecies with Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) and Alaotra Grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus). Recently considered a subspecies of Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), but breeding overlap in northern New Guinea with no hybridization has been recorded. Validity of subspecies timorensis doubtful.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) - Australia, Tasmania, southern New Guinea and New Zealand.
leucosternos (Mayr, 1931) - New Hebrides and New Caledonia.
rennellianus (Mayr, 1943) - Rennell Island, Solomon Islands.
javanicus (Mayr, 1943) - Java.
timorensis (Mayr, 1943) - Timor.
fumosus (Mayr, 1943) - Talaud Islands.
incola (Mayr, 1943) - Northern New Guinea.
Similar Species
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus), especially difficult to tell apart in non-breeding plumage.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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