The black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), known in North America as the eared grebe, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. It occurs on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. This species breeds in vegetated areas of freshwater lakes across Europe, Asia, Africa, northern South America and the southwest and western United States. Since, The Netherlands has invested a lot of time and finances in increasing water quality of water bodies, such as freshwater lakes, Black-necked Grebe populations started to increase from the 1970´s onwards. The black-necked grebe is essentially flightless for most of the year (9 to 10 months), and is one of the most inefficient fliers among avifauna. Generally, it avoids flying at all costs and reserves long-distance flight exclusively for migration. However, when migrating, it will travel as much as 6,000 km (3,700 mi) to reach prosperous areas that are exploited by few other species. Like its cousin the great-crested grebe is well known for tis courtship behaviour. This shot caught these two grebes right in the middle of their dance. To me it displays the intemacy of their courtship behaviour really nicely.
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