Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus Linnaeus       Field Guide IDs: NG-24; G-20; PE-34; PW-pl 1; AE-pl 184; AW-pl 181; AM(I)-42 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy MF I: 22-25 DAYS PRECOCIAL 4 MF 4-7 (3-7) MONOG F: 45-60 DAYS MF FISH BREEDING: Marshes, ponds, and lakes, occ along sluggish streams. Pothole marshes in aspen habitat of sw Manitoba supports highest densities. Usu 1 brood. DISPLAYS: Elaborate courtship of varied postures includes "rushing" (both birds rise out of water while side-by-side), weed ceremony, and much head shaking. NEST: Floating platform in shallow water, often anchored in emergent veg; of underwater plants, rotting veg, rubbish, mud. Building continues during laying and incubation. EGGS: Bluish-white, chalky, usu nest-stained. 1.7" (44 mm). DIET: Aquatic insects, also crustaceans, mollusks. Stomach usu contains feather ball. In winter mostly fish, crustaceans. CONSERVATION: Winters within N.A. Blue List 1986; apparently declining. NOTES: Usu solitary, but occ may fish in flocks. Feathers occ half of stomach contents, may dive up to 3 minutes and travel 500' underwater. Young hatch asynchronously; eat adults' feathers. STANFORD. NOTES: ESSAYS: Eating Feathers; Commensal Feeding; Visual Displays; Transporting Young; Plume Trade; Blue List; Swimming; Eye Color; Precocial and Altricial Young. REFERENCES: Ferguson and Sealy, 1983; Storer, 1969; Sugden, 1977.