Description: Hadn't seen Dabchicks until recently. I photographed this one a week or so ago but it was covered in mud - this time it's a bit cleaner! Evidently Dabchicks are grebes which lack webbed feet in favour of lobed toes, and their legs attach further back on their body than those of coots or ducks, making it very awkward for them to move on land. "Dabchicks are a relatively small, brown-black grebe distinguished by dark glossy head streaked with swept-back fine silvery feathers and prominent yellow eyes. In breeding plumage the front of the neck and breast are rich rufous red. The rest of the rotund body has dark brown-black upperparts and paler underparts with white underfeathers. The tail is little more than a tuft of black silky feathers a few centimetres long. Adults are paler in non-breeding plumage. The eyes are yellow, and the thick olive-grey legs have yellow on the inner side and edges of the feet. The short black bill tapers to a point. Sexes alike. Chicks hatch with irregular heavy black-brown horizontal striped markings on a white background, and a bright red bill with black markings. Juveniles retain striped markings on the head and neck until adult plumage develops; bill becomes black with age." nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/new-zealand-dabchick. Date: 5 November 2021, 13:29. Source: NZ Dabchick. Author: Geoff McKay from Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Description: This young Dabchick is about half grown. It has the juvenile striped markings on the head and neck. Dabchicks are grebes which lack webbed feet in favor of lobed toes, and their legs attach further back on their body than those of coots or ducks, making it very awkward for them to move on land. "Dabchicks are a relatively small, brown-black grebe distinguished by dark glossy head streaked with swept-back fine silvery feathers and prominent yellow eyes. In breeding plumage the front of the neck and breast are rich rufous red. The rest of the rotund body has dark brown-black upperparts and paler underparts with white underfeathers. The tail is little more than a tuft of black silky feathers a few centimetres long. Adults are paler in non-breeding plumage. The eyes are yellow, and the thick olive-grey legs have yellow on the inner side and edges of the feet. The short black bill tapers to a point. Sexes alike. Chicks hatch with irregular heavy black-brown horizontal striped markings on a white background, and a bright red bill with black markings. Juveniles retain striped markings on the head and neck until adult plumage develops; bill becomes black with age." nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/new-zealand-dabchick. Date: 5 November 2021, 13:33. Source: NZ Dabchick Chick. Author: Geoff McKay from Palmerston North, New Zealand.