Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus
Overview
Description
The horned grebe or Slavonian grebe (Podiceps auritus) is a relatively small and threatened species of waterbird in the family Podicipedidae. There are two subspecies, P. a. auritus (Slavonian grebe), which breeds in Eurasia, and P. a. cornutus (horned grebe), which breeds in North America. The Eurasian subspecies is distributed over most of northern Europe and northern Asia, breeding from Iceland east to the Russian Far East. The North American subspecies spans most of Canada and some of the United States. A small population was cited in Greenland in 1973, but is not mapped or further mentioned by subsequent authors. The American name 'horned' refers to the orange-yellow crest feathers located above and behind the eyes, called "horns". The English name, originally 'Sclavonian', is first attested by George Montagu in his 1802 Ornithological Dictionary, from Sclavonia, an old name for northern Russia, referring to the species' main breeding area in Europe; the spelling was emended (without any reason given) to the current 'Slavonian' by Hartert in 1912.1
Taxonomy
Podicipediformes > Podicipedidae (Grebes) > Grebes
Sightings
Relevant Sightings
- 04-13-2024 - Ontario, Canada (First Sighting)
- 04-13-2024 - Ontario, Canada (Last Sighting)
Places Seen
- Ontario, Canada
Media
Photographs
No photographs available.
Audio Recordings
No audio recordings available.