The Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) is found mainly in still freshwater wetlands and farm dams especially where aquatic plants are plentiful. As its other name, Little Grebe implies, it is our smallest Grebe.
Well adapted to life on and under water this bird is rarely found out of water and when alarmed will usually dive and swim away from danger under water rather than fly (1). They are regarded as weak fliers however I am not sure about this as they are found across most of Australia and recently a small population became established in New Zealand some time not long before 1977 when the first NZ breeding record was recorded from Diamond Lake near Wanaka on the South Island. To fly across vast waterless tracts of outback Australia or across the ditch to NZ is a significant undertaking though I guess the NZ birds could have rested on the sea during their pioneering flight/s. When they do fly to move to new habitat it is usually at night – no doubt to avoid predators (2).
Australasian Grebes take most of their food underwater. On the surface they look to be a bulky feathered bird, so must be able to readily reduce this bulk to control their buoyancy.
The Aussie Grebe in the following photos is in breeding condition and was recently photographed at the Byron Wetlands in Northern NSW. They are moderately wary, however now and again some birds will allow relatively close approach for photos.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
They do have a relatively long neck though this is often not always apparent.
Notes:
(1) Grebes do not have webbed feet but have lobed feet instead, an alternative evolutionary solution, to aid swimming. You can read more about aquatic birds with lobed feet here: http://avithera.blogspot.com/2017/06/aquatic-birds-with-lobed-feet.html
(2) Australasian Grebes have been recorded crash landing on outback station galvanised steel rooves at night – presumably they have mistaken the rooves for small dams or water.
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