Michele Mendi

The smallest grebe in Europe, breeding in various types of shallow (mostly lowland) wetlands rich in vegetation – exclusively freshwater but sometimes coastal brackish lagoons. Outside breeding season occurs on more open waters, occasionally along the coast. Its breeding range covers most of Europe (excl. N parts), Africa, C, S & E Asia. Intra-Eurasian partial migrant. The species is resident or locally dispersive in S & W Europe and fully migratory in E Europe (BirdLife International 2021, Limona et al. 2020). Its population trend in Europe is generally stable but fluctuating depending on the winters’ severity. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (Keller et al. 2020).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		209000-390000,275000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Little Grebe

General movement pattern in migratory populations follows NE – SW direction.

Populations around Baltic Sea tend to move W & SW during the winter – reaching the Low Countries, France and UK, while those in E Europe move to C Europe. Population in W & NW Europe largely sedentary or performing short-distance dispersal towards the Atlantic coast. C European birds are resident or migrate W, S and even SE (reaching the Balkans and Asia Minor). Population in S Europe largely resident (short-distance movement from Spain to Morocco has been recorded).

A difficult species to trap, the majority of birds are ringed at very few locations. Limited data from E Europe due to reduced effort in that region.

Recoveries by Condition for Little Grebe

Protected species in Europe. For the period 1961-1990 the recoveries coming from birds found dead and the alive recaptures had almost equal share. For more than a half of those recovered dead the cause of death is unknown. Direct shooting/ hunting played little role, mainly before 1960 – it accounts for about 7% of all cases over the years (large decrease from 13% pre-1960 to less than 1% after 1990). Currently about 86% of the recoveries from the last three decades (after 1990) come from alive birds, mostly ringing recoveries.

The main part of the ringing recoveries come from birds originating in C Europe due to the special efforts applied in that region.

Annual Movements for Little Grebe

Dispersive and migratory movements largely dependent on the winter temperatures, the suitable ice-free wetlands being of importance for the birds. Resident birds predominate in about half of the species’ European breeding range. Most birds are back to their breeding grounds in Mar and early Apr. The species undergoes a flightless wing-moulting period in late summer and autumn. Post-breeding dispersal and start of autumn migration is evident as early as Aug (C European breeders), mostly in Sep. Those W European birds prone to move reach the wetlands along the Atlantic coast in Oct-Nov. N European birds (Denmark) have been encountered in W Europe (the Low Countries, France) in Nov-Dec, and in UK – in Jan.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Little Grebe

Breeding birds from NW Europe and coastal zones of W Europe are encountered in late summer, autumn and winter either dispersed locally or along the Atlantic coast having covered short distances, while some of those inland W Europe migrate E to adjacent countries. C European breeders are mainly found W, SW & S from their breeding grounds during migration and winter – dispersed locally or having covered generally longer distances, reaching the Mediterranean region. Recoveries in Bulgaria (Aug) and Turkey (Mar) of birds ringed in Germany indicate migration to SE. Birds breeding in E Europe move generally W & SW (possibly S), being encountered on their wintering grounds in C & W Europe in Dec-Jan. There is an exceptional record of a bird ringed in Germany (Feb) and found in SW Siberia (Aug).

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International2021 . Species factsheet: Tachybaptus ruficollis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 13/02/2021
Llimona, F., J. del Hoyo, D. A. Christie, F. Jutglar, E. F. J. Garcia, and G. M. Kirwan2020 . Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.litgre1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USAEditor(s): J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana

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