Great crested grebe

With its reproductive plumage, the Great-crested grebe is unmistakable: a cap adorns its head, with black feathers at the top (crest) and two long orange-brown tufts on each cheek that cover the neck down to the bottom. Long neck and flat body brown on top and white on the front of the neck and belly. Outside the breeding season (in Winter) the "cap" is completely missing and then it appears to have whitish cheeks as a continuation of the whitish neck, but brown feathers on the top of the head ("crown"). It has a relatively long and straight beak of a pink color that progressively turns to black for breeding. It will be seen disappearing from the surface of the water (diving) and appearing a little further away after a while. When it flies, it moves near the water and the white bands on its wings are then seen and even more prominently its long neck.

It spreads throughout Europe except in northern Scandinavia. In Western and Central Europe and South Asia it is present all year round. It is a migrant (summer visitor) in Central and Eastern Europe and all of Central Asia from where it leaves to winter on the coasts of Western Europe, all of the Mediterranean, South Asia and South Africa. Permanent populations also exist in East-Centarl Africa and South Australia and New Zealand.

• It feeds mainly with fish (up to 22 cm long and 7.5 cm in diameter!) but also aquatic invertebrates such as crabs, shrimps, snails, frogs etc.
• In the 19th century their populations were stretched to the limit as they were hunted for their beautiful feathers; fortunately they recovered fully by the 1970s.
• In recent decades more and more individuals have been observed not leaving areas of northern Europe and remaining there in winter, probably due to rising temperatures, and also its breeding population has expanded to the north and north-west of our continent.