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Australian Wildlife

  Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)





Australasian Grebe | Tachybaptus novaehollandiae photo
Australasian Grebe in breeding plumage

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.

Australasian Grebe | Tachybaptus novaehollandiae photo
Radjah Shelduck

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.







AUSTRALASIAN GREBE FACTS

Description
The non-breeding plumage of both the male and female Australasian Grebe is dark grey-brown above and mostly silver-grey below, with a white oval patch of bare skin at the base of the bill. During the breeding season, both sexes have a glossy-black head and a brown stripe from behind the eye down the neck, and the patch of skin at the base of the bill becomes yellow.

Size
26cm

Habitat
freshwater ponds and small waterways

Food
mall fish and water insects

Breeding
Lays 4-5 pale blue eggs in a nest made of floating vegetation anchored to a submerged branch or reed

Range
throughout Australia

distribution map showing range of Tachybaptus novaehollandiae in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Podicipediformes
Family:Podicipedidae
Genus:Tachybaptus
Species:novaehollandiae
Common Name:Australasian Grebe