Eared Grebe - 1894

Podiceps nigricollis

A winter visitor; rare.

In Mr. Mathias' list. Mr. Tracy informed Mr. Dix that he had several times obtained the Eared Grebe on the Pembroke river. As they come upon our list the Grebes diminish in size one after the other, and the Eared Grebe is smaller than the Sclavonian Grebe, and the immature and winter plumaged birds may be separated from one another by a glance at their bills. In the Eared Grebe the bill curves slightly upwards, but in the Sclavonian Grebe it is straight. Although all the Grebes in the nesting season frequent fresh water ponds and lakes, yet in the winter they occur in salt water, where we have met numbers of every species on the British list at different times diving and fishing among the rocks and sea weed, or in the shallow water close to the shore.

Mathew M.A. 1894, Birds of Pembrokeshire and it's Islands