Slavonian Grebe

Anyone who has witnessed their remarkable courtship display will know what truly amazing birds these are…

Dominic Couzens on this bird’s amazing courtship display

About now, something wondrous is happening on a few lochs in the Highlands of Scotland. Hardly anyone sees it happening, although that is understandable, because no more than about 20 pairs of Slavonian Grebes nest each year in Britain – this species is really a bird of the continental northern forest belt, where its favourite small, productive lakes and ponds abound.

But where the Slavonian Grebe occurs, it is a star performer, exhibiting some of the most exhilarating, varied and dramatic courtship displays of any bird in Britain. If you see it in action, you find yourself caught between awe and mirth, such is the intensity and contortionism. It is worth travelling to the Highlands just to see a few seconds of true avian theatre. And if you watch and think carefully, you might just notice something extraordinary, something truly rare among birds in general.

The zenith of the display, that spinetingling denouement like the ‘kingdomfor-a-horse’ diatribe in Richard III, is known as the Weed Rush, and it is entirely unique to the Slavonian Grebe. The two birds submerge in unison and pick up weed from the bottom of the loch.

They surface at the same time – if they don’t, the whole display is interrupted – and then swim together, rear up and bump breasts for a few moments (like those tasteless chest-pumping postures associated with George W Bush, except in the water). The birds then turn to one side, and rush across the surface, in the same direction for 5-10m, closely side by side. They then turn in a different direction and do the same, and then again and again up to a dozen times.

Admittedly, grebes have limbs of the sort of foot flexibility that would give a human dancer paroxysms of envy, but this is still an impressive manoeuvre to carry out. Think about it – the birds must paddle furiously to keep themselves upright, they must keep paddling to progress in a straight line and not knock their partner over, they must keep hold of the weed that they are carrying in their bill, and presumably throughout must keep enough poise to look impressive rather than ridiculous.

It is worth it, though. If this

Weed Dance manoeuvre goes well, it spells the beginning of the pair bond. It is the final act in Slavonian Grebe courtship, the seal on the deal. You might say that the resulting chicks are part of the Weed Rush Generation.

Of course, the Slavonian Grebe is

only one of our grebes with thrilling water-courtship. All our species have complex displays, and those of the Great Crested Grebe provided material for the earliest ever scientific accounts and descriptions of bird courtship, written by Edmund Selous in 1901-02.

In the excitement of seeing them, often on a water body close to home, it is very easy to overlook one of their most extraordinary aspects. Grebe displays are bastions of gender equality.

In the vast majority of birds worldwide, courtship displays have roles that are specific to the gender of bird, and the carrying out of these specific roles helps to stimulate the individuals – think of a male harrier food-passing to a female, for example. Almost invariably, one assigned gender, usually the male, initiates the display, while the female responds, and there is something of a dance that the birds follow to form and cement the relationship.

Complex dance

What is surprising about grebes – indeed, astonishing if you appreciate the complexity of the dancefloor steps – is that the roles are completely interchangeable. Males and females adopt the same postures, and the initiation of display can be from either bird.