Western Grebe; a ballet dancer in a tux!

Last week while observing along the Kootenai River I saw a long-necked, nearly all-black water bird with white chin, neck, chest and yellow bill with unusually bright red eyes in the river next to the southern bank. The bird according to my “Birds of Idaho” Field Guide was a Western Grebe.

The Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) is a species in the grebe family of water birds. The common names for Western Grebe include dabchick, swan grebe, and swan-necked grebe. The grebe eats by diving for fish, mollusks, crabs and salamanders.

This is the largest North American grebe at 22-29 inches long. It is black-and-white, with a long, slender, swan-like neck and red eyes. It is easily confused with Clarks Grebe, which shares the same features, behavior and habitat, and hybrids are known to exist.

Western Grebes nest in colonies of hundreds on large inland lakes, sometimes using coastal marshes, in western North America. It has a spectacular courtship displays; two birds will rear up and patter across the water's surface. Northern birds migrate west to coastal oceans in winter; birds in the southwest and Mexico may be permanent residents.

Western grebes are not swans, but instead show themselves to be proficient in ballet.

No other bird puts on quite the show these grebes do and they dress in stylish formal wear of a black and white Tux for the occasion, as well as all other occasions. This, combined with a long, curving, swanlike neck, a thinly tapered rapier of a beak and a glowing red ruby of an eye, makes a grand impression before the dance even begins.

When it does begin, you’ll find you are holding your breath. Two birds will swim toward each other to begin the dance. They raise their black crests; they swing what are now beaklike weapons from side to side; they dip their weapons in the water in obviously ritualistic ways.

As the birds – often three or more – come abreast, they make a perfectly synchronized lunge that brings them fully out of the water and, with wings slightly lifted, necks perfectly vertical, heads held horizontal and beaks upturned, they begin their choreography. They run rapidly across the surface for as much as 60 feet, the churning and splashing of their uniquely lobed toes on the water the only sound.

With beaks slightly parted, the partners in dance periodically, and perfectly timed, look at each other. Then, without warning that the end is near, all dancers arch and dive head first out of sight.

This was a simple series of steps – a contest between rivals, perhaps, or a greeting between potential mates. The elegance is in the fine details of what’s called the “rushing ceremony.” There are postures called dip-shaking, ratchet-pointing, tick-pointing and barging. The sequence, the intensity and duration of the postures, mixed with the stylized dance across the water, means different things in different circumstances to the birds, but it’s all dazzling to human spectators.

Besides being exquisite dancers, Western grebes can also be described as feathered submarines. As with their close relatives, the loons, grebes have relatively dense bones and poor buoyancy. As they prepare to submerge, grebes flatten their feathers, squeezing air from between them.

Then, rather than diving, the grebe slowly sinks, often until only the top of the head, including the eyes, can be seen, in periscope fashion. This maneuver, when unexpectedly first seen, is quite haunting.

As soon as the young hatch, the white and downy chicks climb on a parent’s back and nestle down among the feathers between folded wings with only a little head showing.

The chicks will ride on their parent’s back for 2-4 weeks because the water is too cool for them, and can cause hypothermia if they fall in for more than a few minutes. Both parents feed and protect the chicks for 6-8 weeks or until the young have fledged. The parents may split up, each taking one or two chicks once the chicks are old enough to swim and dive on their own.