Least Grebe Gallery

Tachybaptus dominicus

eBird describes the Least Grebe like this:  This well named grebe is the smallest grebe and is very small for a waterbird. Medium-gray overall with pale fluffy sides. The face is dark in breeding plumage; lighter with white throat in nonbreeding plumage. Piercing yellow eye; thin, sharp bill. Widespread throughout Central and South America; very limited range in U.S. Found in marshy ponds, often with extensive vegetation. Found singly or in pairs. Frequently dives underwater.  All About Birds adds this descriptive information about the Least Grebe:  The Least Grebe is a tiny, almost metallic gray waterbird with a brilliant golden eye and a tuft of white at the stern. These chunky-bodied grebes spend their time in shallow freshwater or brackish ponds (and even flooded ditches) where they hunt insects and frogs. Completely at home in the water, they sometimes hide out with the body submerged and only the bill out of the water, almost like a tiny alligator. These birds are fairly common in tropical wetlands but reach the United States only in South Texas.

I saw my first Least Grebe on my August 31, 2020, visit to Christmas Mountains Oasis.  I noticed the solitary bird swimming in the large tank to the left of the hummingbird blinds on my first walk through the Oasis.  Later, Carolyn Ohl-Johnson, the owner, was excited to tell me about the Least Grebe and how unusual it was to have one at the Oasis.