Least Grebe
Tachybaptus dominicus
Photo by Paul Conover, Santa Ana NWR, Nov '92
Last updated 5/7/96
Least Grebes are really more of a South Texas bird, one of the birds you expect in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. However there are usually a few of these little guys around each winter. They have been regular winter
visitors to the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge. In 1996 they were reported in Terrel Park in Beaumont (Jefferson County) and in the spring at Brazos Bend State Park
Least Grebes are much smaller than the common Pied-billed Grebe. They are very small short necked grebes with bright golden-yellow eyes. The bill is dark. In winter they'll show a white throat and in summer a dark throat. In breeding plumage they have a black crown and hindneck and show less black in the winter.
Keep an eye out for them they're out there in the winter.
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