BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
RED-NECKED GREBE - HOW FLEETING IS FAME!
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
As I was learning my birds 50 years ago this bird was named Holboell's Grebe, Colymbus Holboelli. I never thought about bird names being changed, but change they do. This one makes me sad because it was the only remembrance of this Danish naturalist and explorer of the early 19th century, Carl Peter Holboell. He was an officer in the Danish Royal Navy and served as Royal Inspector of Colonies and Whaling and Governor of South Greenland. He named the snowball bird, the Hoary Redpoll, for his friend, Jens Wilken Hornemann, and that name stuck. Hornemann is still memorialized with Carduelis hornemanni.

Red-necked Grebe

Poor Carl died at sea in 1856 and his name was applied to this large grebe. But people who decide these things dropped his name from the Latin name and then from the common name in the early 1900s. Now if you search the literature, you can hardly find him. It's almost like he doesn't exist and when we older birders slowly vanish, Mr. Holboell will vanish with us.

His grebe came to our attention one Sunday last year as the bird watchers were looking at Polpis Harbor. I had scanned the waters, noting Buffleheads, some Red-breasted Mergansers, and a Horned Grebe. We were then starting to scan the shore looking for a kingfisher when one of the lessexperienced birders proclaimed that the bird I called a Horned Grebe was like no Horned Grebe he'd ever seen. "Look at the beak on that thing," he exclaimed.

Sometimes I'm pretty stubborn and it took a chorus of other birders to get me back to the grebe and

discovered I'd made a big mistake. This was actually a Red-necked Grebe, a much better bird for the Sunday morning walk. Garth had put his eye on the bird's beak, the most distinguishing field mark for a Red-necked Grebe. In winter, alas, Red-necked Grebes have no red necks. Seldom are we lucky enough to see one in their striking breeding plumage at this latitude.

Actually the bird is described much better by its Latin name - Podiceps grisegena. Grisegena means 'grey-cheeked,' which is the way our birds look. Podiceps means 'rump-footed.' Oh dear, sounds like an unfortunate nickname from elementary school, doesn't it?

Turns out this is pretty accurate. It refers to the fact that these birds have their legs attached so far astern that they can scarcely stand upright on land. It's great for propulsion under water. All grebes are divers. Not only do they plunge dive, head-first, but they can also slowly submerge, submarine style, the body disappearing, then the neck and finally the head. Their food is almost all animal matter, fish, aquatic worms, insects and crustaceans. Before swallowing a fish, they go through the fascinating process of pinching it from stem to stern to aid in digestion. Scientists find that most grebe stomachs are lined with their own feathers, perhaps protecting them from fish bones.

Being 'rump-footed' also means that if this species is stuck on land it is a life sentence. Even ice is a problem. Years ago when New York's Cayuga Lake froze suddenly, many Red-necked Grebes found themselves with no water from which to take off. Scientists just walked out and captured some for study. Many others just died out there, unable to take off from this solid ice.

This is the largest grebe we see here in the east. They are almost 20 inches from beak to tail, close to mallard duck size. Once airborne it is apparent they have almost no tail, their large lobed feet trail behind them. Their wing patches on the leading as well as the trailing edge of the wing, make a unique field mark.

The lobed feet are another grebe feature. Not webbed like duck's feet, each toe has flaps that stick out to push the water aside. This, coupled, with their legs being so far abaft, makes them extremely efficient at swimming under water.

In the summer our Red-necked Grebes move mainly to the northwest, across western Canada and Alaska. There, in marshes filled with Yellow-headed Blackbirds and two other closely related grebes, Western and Horned, they build a floating nest of reeds, anchored to the surrounding marshy plants. Sometimes the four or five eggs are awash as water levels change. But this is just a preview of what life will be like for these aquatic birds. The chicks can swim and dive almost immediately. At other times, they take shelter on Mom's back, even clinging there when she dives.

Red-necked Grebes start to arrive on Nantucket in mid-September and stay until mid April. No longer are they what we would call common, but if you are lucky you will see them off our ocean

beaches or even in Polpis Harbor. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information.

To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1- 781-259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@ comcast.net.