The Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) is a robust grebe with a chestnut neck and grey cheek in breeding plumage, sized between the larger Great Crested Grebe and the smaller Black-necked Grebe, and found on nutrient-rich, reed-fringed lakes. It measures 40–50 cm, with a wingspan of about 77–85 cm and a weight of roughly 650–950 grams, more heavily built with a thicker neck than the Great Crested Grebe. In breeding plumage the chestnut neck, pale grey cheek, black cap, and yellow bill base are all clearly visible, while the winter plumage is far plainer, greyish-brown with a diffuse pattern and none of the strong colour contrast; it lacks the Great Crested Grebe's striking rust-and-black head ornaments.
The species is loud during the breeding season, its most frequent call a harsh, whining, somewhat pig-like "yark-yark-yark" repeated in long series near the nest site, carrying far over a calm lake especially at dawn and dusk. It breeds in southern and central Sweden, chiefly on nutrient-rich lowland lakes, with a small national population of only a few hundred pairs; the species is classed as Near Threatened on the Swedish red list, its decline linked in part to eutrophication and changes in lake fish stocks, and it is a short-distance migrant, with some birds wintering in sheltered coastal waters. It builds a floating nest of wet plant material anchored in reeds or other vegetation, and the female lays 4–5 eggs, incubated by both parents for about three weeks; the striped, downy chicks often ride on a parent's back in their first weeks, a behaviour typical of grebes. Its diet consists of fish, aquatic insects and their larvae, and other invertebrates, caught by diving and swimming skilfully underwater, with the balance between fish and insects shifting according to the lake and the season.
Read about this species in Swedish →