Ashley and Crippen Photographers, Toronto|Corporate Headshots/Executive Headshots 

Birds

Red-Necked Grebes

The Red-necked Grebe is not common, but it seen in summer on marshy ponds and shallow lakes in the northwest. It spends the winter in small groups around coastal bays or on deep open water, particular if food is plentiful, but is more often a solitary bird. Afloat it looks stocky, with a short body and a large head. In summer its plumage is handsome, with a red neck black crown, a gray face edged in white and a tuft of black feathers giving the head a triangular shape. In winter the red neck turns pale gray, with a crescent of white running from under the chin around the rear of the face. Its bill is almost as long as the head, heavy, tapered and yellow in colour. The juvenile bird has a striped head. Like other Grebes, the Red-necked is not built for walking on land or long flights and spends most of its time on water. The Red-necked Grebe feeds mainly on small fish tadpoles and newts, which it catches by diving. It also often swallows feathers- as do the other species of Grebes-probably to enable it to strain out fish bones and other undigested material and regurgitate this unwanted matter.