Taucher Lower Austria

Grebes (Podicipedidae) are a worldwide family of small to medium waterbirds that spend almost their entire life on water. They are characterised by powerful legs set far back on the body and by lobed toes instead of webbed feet: the lobes fold together on the forward stroke and open on the backward stroke to drive the bird through the water. This anatomy makes grebes excellent divers but leaves them barely mobile on land. The species you will encounter most often in DACH are the great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) and the little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis). The great crested grebe reaches a body length of 46 to 51 centimetres and shows the dark crest and chestnut-and-black ruff that give it its name in breeding plumage. The little grebe is much smaller at 23 to 29 centimetres, with chestnut cheeks and neck in breeding plumage. Red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegena) and black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) are scarcer and locally distributed; the Slavonian grebe (Podiceps auritus) reaches central Europe only at the very edge of its range.

Grebes are tied to standing and slow-flowing inland waters with well-developed transition zones. They occupy shallow lakes, oxbows, ponds and reservoirs as long as reedbeds, bulrushes or other dense bank vegetation are available for nest building. The great crested grebe prefers larger, clear waters of at least roughly five hectares with a reed fringe and a healthy fish stock, while the little grebe also accepts small, well-vegetated ponds, ditches and pools. The nest is a floating platform of aquatic plants and reed remains, anchored to stems within the protective transition zone. Boat traffic, heavy wave action and the removal of reed belts are among the main pressures on their breeding habitats. In winter many birds move to larger ice-free lakes and to coastal waters; part of the population migrates into southern Europe.

The highly ritualised courtship behaviour is particularly conspicuous and easy to observe in the field, above all in the great crested grebe. Pairs perform synchronous dances on open water: the head-shaking ceremony introduces the display, in the penguin pose both birds rise breast to breast almost vertically out of the water, and in the weed ceremony they present each other with aquatic plants. These rituals serve pair bonding and often begin in late winter. When diving, the birds spring forward and slightly upwards before submerging; they normally stay under for less than 45 seconds and swim two to four metres below the surface. The great crested grebe feeds mainly on small fish of up to about 200 grams, supplemented by aquatic insects and amphibians. The little grebe and black-necked grebe rely more on aquatic insects, their larvae and small fish. Another peculiarity is the habit of swallowing their own feathers, which appear to protect the stomach against sharp fish bones.

For you as a hunter the protection context is unambiguous. All European grebes count as strictly protected species under § 7 Abs. 2 Nr. 13 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act in combination with the EU Birds Directive. The great crested grebe is still listed as game in § 2 of the Federal Hunting Act but carries a year-round closed season nationwide; unlawful killing constitutes a criminal offence under § 38 of the Federal Hunting Act. Little grebe, red-necked grebe, black-necked grebe and Slavonian grebe are not listed in the Federal Hunting Act at all and fall purely under nature conservation law. In Austria and Switzerland the regional hunting laws likewise either grant grebes a year-round closed season or do not list them at all. In practice this means grebes are not huntable anywhere in DACH and should be treated as a fully protected family. Population declines are driven mainly by loss and degradation of suitable breeding waters, water-sport disturbance during the breeding season, predation by American mink and other non-native species, and oil pollution on wintering waters.