Roadless Areas
Home/Species/ Least Grebe

Tachybaptus dominicus

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Least Grebe

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106061
Element CodeABNCA01010
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderPodicipediformes
FamilyPodicipedidae
GenusTachybaptus
Synonyms
Podiceps dominicus
Other Common Names
Grèbe minime (FR) least grebe (EN) Mergulhão, Mergulhão-Pompom (PT) Zambullidor Menor, Macá Chico, Ype Apa?i (ES)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Formerly placed in genus Podiceps (AOU 1983).
Conservation Status
Review Date1996-11-20
Change Date1996-11-20
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments
Resident from southern Baja California, Sinaloa, east-central and southern Texas and Bahamas south through most of Middle America, Greater Antilles (east to Puerto Rico, possibly the Virgin Islands), and South America (to southern Peru and northern Argentina). Casual or accidental in southern California, southern Arizona, Sonora, central and eastern Texas, Louisiana, Florida. Has bred in southern California.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Freshwater lakes, streams, ponds, lagoons, marshes, and temporary bodies of water, generally in sluggish or quiet situations. Often in intermittent ponds and roadside ditches in north. Small intermittent ponds and roadside ditches and canals. Eggs laid on mound of decaying vegetation and debris among emergent plants or in open water 0.5-1.5 m deep. Both sexes build nest, which may be used for successive broods.

Ecology

Usually alone or in pairs, sometimes with 3-4 well-grown young (Stiles and Skutch 1989); infrequently gathers in small loose groups when not breeding (Hilty and Brown 1986).

Reproduction

May breed every month in tropics if weather favorable (peak spring & fall in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands), peak April-August in Texas; nests reported January-July in Panama, February-June in arid western Ecuador. Annually lays 3-4 clutches of 2-7 (average 4-5) eggs. Incubation by both sexes, 21 days, begins with first egg (Terres 1980).
Palustrine Habitats
TEMPORARY POOLHERBACEOUS WETLAND
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN3
ProvinceRankNative
TexasS3BYes
Roadless Areas (1)
Arizona (1)
AreaForestAcres
TumacacoriCoronado National Forest44,594
References (21)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  4. Braun, M. J., D. W. Finch, M. B. Robbins, and B. K. Schmidt. 2000. A field checklist of the birds of Guyana. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  5. Garrido, O. H. and A. Kirkconnell. 2000. Field guide to the birds of Cuba. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
  6. Glover, F. A. 1953. Nesting ecology of the pied-billed grebe in northwestern Iowa. Wilson Bulletin 65:32-9.
  7. Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
  8. Hilty, S.L. and W. L. Brown. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA. 836 pp.
  9. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  10. Johnsgard, P. A. 1987. Diving birds of North America. Univ. Nebraska Press, Lincoln. xii + 292 pp.
  11. Muller, M. J. 1995. Pied-billed Grebes nesting on Green Lake, Seattle, Washington. Washington Birds 4:35-59.
  12. Palmer, R. S. (editor). 1962. Handbook of North American birds. Vol. 1. Loons through flamingos. Yale University Press, New Haven. 567 pp.
  13. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  14. Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
  15. Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 511 pp.
  16. Ridgely, R. S. 2002. Distribution maps of South American birds. Unpublished.
  17. Ridgely, R. S. and J. A. Gwynne, Jr. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
  18. Root, T. 1988. Atlas of wintering North American birds: An analysis of Christmas Bird Count data. University of Chicago Press. 336 pp.
  19. Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
  20. Storer, R. 1976. The behavior and relationships of the least grebe. Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist. 18(6):113-126.
  21. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.