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Horned Grebe
Podiceps auritus
Audubon Illustration
John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.
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About the Horned Grebe
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".
Source: Wikipedia
Classification
- Scientific name
- Podiceps auritus
- Family
- Grebes
- Order
- Podicipediformes
Similar species
Other members of the grebes family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.
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Optics
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