Eared Grebes Are November Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Eared grebes are November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar onto which the National Audubon Society angles vulnerable birds in the United States.

The illustration appeared around the time of the famous taxonomic analysis of eared grebes by German ornithologist and pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864) in 1831; Johann Andreas Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands, Dreizehnter Theil (Part 13), Plate 246: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr

Eared grebes are November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar onto which the 2022 National Audubon Society angles vulnerable birds that abide in, or access from Canada and Mexico, the United States.

Backyard freshwater ponds, pools and streams with springtime and summertime insects and small crustaceans, fishes and mollusks and with wintertime worms bear the Podicipediformes order member. The Podicipediformes (from Latin pōdex, “butt” and pēs, “feet” and -fōrmēs, “-shaped”) grebe order’s Podicipedidae (from Greek –ειδής [“-like”] via Latin idæ) family members cluster year-round. They dwell in freshwater flood-levels, lakes, marshes, ponds, pools and river backwaters April through July and saline, slow-freeze bays, coastal waters and lakes during non-breeding months.

Aquatic and waterside reed- and vegetation-enforced, low, shallow-cupped mounds exhibit 5- to 6-inch (12.7- to 15.24-centimeter) inside and 12- to 14-inch (30.48- to 35.56-centimeter) outside diameters.

Both parents-to-be fit aquatic and waterside fibers into breeding-season nests figuring one 1- to 8-egg brood, after whose failure or success sometimes a second clutch follows.

They together guard elliptical to semi-elliptical, smooth, white, 44- by 30-millimeter (1.73- by 1.18-inch) eggs for 20 to 22 days and precocial (from Latin praecox) hatchlings. Open-eyed nestlings have pink-spotted crowns and lores; brown irises; gray feet with red-edged lobes; and white-tipped, gray or pink bills with two black narrow vertical bands. They impart blackish, gray- and narrow-striped backs of heads and necks; dark-streaked chins with black-, inverted-, narrow-patterned, V-like lateral designs; white-centered undersides; and white-flecked black sides.

Eared grebes journey in jubilant flocks as November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar and over North American flyways to Atlantic and Pacific coastal winter homes.

Nesting colonies and 100-percent co-parenting kindle each season’s one- or two-brood nestlings knowing their flock members, their parents, their peers and their relatives within two months.

Eared grebe nestlings learn to locate their own fish and insects within two weeks, to live independently within three weeks and to fly within 45 days. They must do forward-arching, short-spring dives despite broad-lobed, splayed toes; swallow feathers to vomit fish bones; and trail legs and toes to fly despite short tails. They need to navigate by flying and by above- and below-surface swimming since their legs nestle in their bodies too far back for land-walking or standing.

Eared grebes occur as November birds in Mono Lake, saline soda lake home during non-breeding months in Mono County, California, and on the 2022 Audubon calendar.

Eared glebes possess 12- to 14-inch (30- to 35-centimeter) body lengths, 22.5- to 24-inch (57- to 62-centimeter) wingspans and 7- to 26-ounce (200- to 725-gram) weights.

Eared glebe juveniles queue brown plumage and dark flanks quintessential to the physically and sexually immature year- or two-year-long stage in 12-year lifespans of eared glebes. Mature, summer-form eared glebes reveal black crests and necks; red eyes; black, out-stretched necks; thin, upturned bills; rufous breasts and sides; dark backs; and white-patched wings. Winter forms show black crests; dusky cheeks; red eyes without gold, large, wispy eye-patches; upturned bills with dusky cheeks; gray, outstretched necks; and dusky white flanks.

The 2022 Audubon calendar treats as November birds eared grebes, whose vocalizations teem with alarm-call, sharp chirps; frog-like breeding-ground cheeps; and rising, squeaky courtship poo-eep trills.

Eared glebes, acknowledged commonly also as black-necked grebes, scientifically as Podiceps nigricollis (from Latin pōdex, "butt" and pēs, "feet"; and from Latin niger "black" and collum, "neck, stem") and taxonomically by Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864), are present in the three North American countries of Canada, Mexico and United States; Breeding [lime green], Resident [medium green], Passage [aqua] and Non-Resident [blue] Ranges of Podiceps nigricollis: SanoAK Alexander Kürthy, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The illustration appeared around the time of the famous taxonomic analysis of eared grebes by German ornithologist and pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864) in 1831; Johann Andreas Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands, Dreizehnter Theil (Part 13), Plate 246: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6059454022/; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33755509; CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Andreas_Naumann's_..._Naturgeschichte_der_Vögel_Deutschlands,_nach_einigen_Erfahrungen_entworfen_(Taf._246)_(6059454022).jpg

Eared glebes, acknowledged commonly also as black-necked grebes, scientifically as Podiceps nigricollis (from Latin pōdex, "butt" and pēs, "feet"; and from Latin niger "black" and collum, "neck, stem") and taxonomically by Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864), are present in the three North American countries of Canada, Mexico and United States; Breeding [lime green], Resident [medium green], Passage [aqua] and Non-Resident [blue] Ranges of Podiceps nigricollis: SanoAK Alexander Kürthy, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PodicepsNigricollisIUCNver2019-2.png

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Page 51. In: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

Bull, John; and John Farrand, Jr. 1997. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Pages 343-344. In: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. Revised by John Farrand, Jr. Second edition. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Bull, John; John Farrand, Jr.; and Miklos D. F. Udvardy. 1985. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 560. In: William A. Niering. Wetlands. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Eared Grebe Podiceps podiceps L." Pages 24-25. In: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Krabbe, Niels K. 2002. "Eared grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 178-179. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 8, Birds I, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/01/florida-scrub-jays-are-january-birds-on.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 60-61. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1947. "Eared Grebe Colymbus nigricollis californicus." Pages 3-4. In: A Field Guide to the Birds Giving Field Marks of all Species Found East of the Rockies. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 20-21. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, with Herbert S. Zim. 1983. "Eared Grebe Pódiceps nigricóllis." Page 20. In: Birds of North America. A Guide to Field Identification. New York NY: Golden Press; and Racine WI: Western Publishing Company.

Stokes, Donald and Lillian. 1996. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 10. In: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region. Boston [MA]; New York [NY]; Toronto [Ontario, Canada]; and London [England UK]: Little, Brown and Company.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1985. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 514. In: Bayard H. McConnaughey and Evelyn McConnaughey. Pacific Coast. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1977. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Pages 479-480. In: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

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