Southern Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus australis)

a pair with two chicks at the Kaiapoi Lakes on the edge of Christchurch. January 16, 2015. This photo is a heavy crop, so the quality is not much good.

Crested Grebes are interesting in NZ because they used to breed only in the alpine lakes of the Southern Alps. Some would winter on Lake Forsyth outside Christchurch but most stayed at altitude year-round. In the last couple of decades the numbers wintering at Lake Forsyth increased quite a lot, and then eventually a few pairs started to breed on neighbouring Lake Ellesmere. In just the last couple of years birds have been appearing at lakes on the outskirts of Christchurch city, and a few pairs have started breeding here and there.

These are the first Crested Grebe chicks I have ever seen! It was neat watching the mother feeding them feathers, and the chicks riding on her back.

The great crested grebe is a fascinating bird.
It was almost exterminated in the UK by the feather trade (for trimming Victorian ladies' hats) and this stimulated the formation of conservation organisations which eventually became the RSPB. Its elaborate courtship display was one of the first to be described in detail, by Julian Huxley (subsequently of the ZSL) roughly 100 years ago. Floating nests, feather feeding, stripey chicks and those fantastic crests, what's not to like?

Alan

Also in the Netherlands the Great crested grebe is now-a-days a common sight and me too find them very intresting birds. Just today photographed several of them, I will post the pictures in the Netherlands Wildlife Gallery.