During dives it may stay submerged for up to three minutes and travel 150-200m horizontally in that time. P. auritus may also control its specific gravity so that it may swim high in the water or almost submerged. Like other grebes, P. auritus must run along the surface of the water to achieve take-off. Flight is at high velocities with rapid wingbeats. The Horned grebe is a migratory species spending the breeding season on inland lakes and moving to the coast during the winter.
Migration occurs only at night, and typically alone.
During the breeding season, P. auritus may be found predominantly on prairie and boreal freshwater lakes with both open waters and marsh vegetation. They may also nest in marshes, small sloughs with weedy margins, ponds, and occasionally on rivers. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Farrand Jr., J. 1988b. Farrand Jr. , J. 1988a.