### animal | vertebrate | bird | sea bird:

Grebe
* Most grebes are a medium or large size
  - black and white with little sexual dimorphism
  - can fly well, but do so rather infrequently once settled down on a particular water
* Some grebes do a mating ritual.
* Some grebes find it difficult to fly
  - walk on land because their feet are so big
* also eat their own feathers, and even feed feathers to their newborns.
* are also diving birds
  - fed feathers with which to line the stomach, and so protect it from fish bones
  - fish-eating diving birds with squat bodies, small heads, and short tails
  - live fish eaters, and are fed live goldfish while they recover
  - waterfowls
* build platform nests over water using aquatic weeds.
* can have long or short bills.
* have a breeding season plumage and a winter plumage from autumn to spring
  - complex courtship rituals, including dancing in pairs on the water
  - narrow wings
  - soft, thick, lustrous feathers
* lay white eggs that become stained and cryptically colored over time.
* make their nest from plants found in the water.
* only migrate if they live in North America , Europe or Asia.
+ Great Crested Grebe, Habitat and behaviour
  * The Great Crested Grebe has an interesting mating ritual. Grebes dance every time the pair meets, and the dance varies according to the circumstance. Returning to the nest is different from meeting out on the water, for instance. Most dances end in a bout of head-shaking. Huxley, Julian 1914. Proceedings of the Zoological Society', London. Reprinted by Jonathan Cape, London 1968, with a forword by Desmond Morris.
+ Grebe, Description, color and shape: Podicipediformes
  * Most grebes are a medium or large size. Some grebes, such as the Little Grebe are smaller. All Grebes have large feet with lobed toes. Some grebes find it difficult to walk on land because their feet are so big. They are much better at swimming and diving in water.
  * Grebes have narrow wings. Some grebes find it difficult to fly. There are two species of grebe that cannot fly at all. This means that if grebes are in danger, they will dive under water instead of flying away like other birds do.
  * Grebes can have long or short bills. If they eat insects in the water, they will have a short bills.
  * They have many, waterproof feathers. This means they can easily float on water and dive into water without getting cold or wet. In spring and summer, grebes have orange crests on their heads. This is so they can attract a mate. Some grebes do a mating ritual.
  * Grebes make their nest from plants found in the water. The nests float on top of the water. Baby grebes can swim when they are born. They are usually brown and white and do not get their orange crests until they are adults
  * This is when birds fly to live in a different place in summer or winter. Grebes only migrate if they live in North America, Europe or Asia. Grebes in South America, Africa and Asia do not migrate. They are found in every continent on earth

Guillemot
* are a species of auk
  - fed sprats three or four times a day and are constantly checked by vets
  - very pretty black birds with white winged patches and bright red legs and feet
* often seek the cover of overhanging soil and plants on high bluffs for nesting.
* sea bird

### animal | vertebrate | bird | sea bird | guillemot:

Murre
* are extremely jumpy birds and tend to flush from their colonies when people get too close
  - fish-eating birds about the size of small ducks
  - guillemots
  - monogamous, mainly because it takes two full-time parents to rear one chick
  - slimmer-billed
* breed in loud, crowded colonies on narrow cliff ledges.
* find safety in numbers whether nesting on cliff tops or in crevices on the cliff face.
* nest in colonies on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and in the Arctic
  - groups and the larger the group, the safer the individual
* show several other forms of predictable behavior.