Dispersal of Australasian Grebe

["Philip Veerman" <>]

-----Original Message-----From: Philip Veerman [ Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2013 12:23 AM
To: 'Megan Mears'; 'COG Chatline'      Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Dispersal of Australasian Grebe

Probably still a lot to learn. They fly, not very well and presumably at night  (as suggested in HANZAB). There are stories from around the world of  grebes of various species them landing on rooves and roads at night that might look like water in the night time and getting stranded, also you don't see them fly much. So they are very different from a cormorant or ibis that fly very easily. I wouldn't guess either way as to season. It is actually fairly normal to find them at a small water body for a day or two and not on another day. An example is the pond at the track on the western side of Mt Taylor which I think is typical of their presence at small dams. It is just a little pond and far from any other open water. Mostly there are none there but 2 or 3 or some other low number of times over many years of my occasional walks past there, there will be 1 or 2 of these birds on the pond and never on the next time I go there (though that would rarely be within the same week).

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----From: Megan Mears [ Sent: Tuesday, 12 March 2013 8:07 PM      To: COG Chatline
Subject: [canberrabirds] Dispersal of Australasian Grebe

Hi,

I'm curious about how Australasian Grebe disperse.

Does anyone know if these grebe disperse, by flight through the summer months, and are likely to pass through a small wetlands for a day or a few hours or even less? The way a cormorant or ibis might pass through a wetlands briefly? Through the summer I saw them at a few Canberra locations, but were always there the next day, or week, or are still there. Does anyone know if the young disperse, by dropping into one or more areas before finding a suitable habitat during the summerr. I have read a bit about grebes but could not find this information.

Much appreciated,

Megan Mears