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Step 1
Study photos of horned grebes. Males and females look similar, both growing to about 9-15 inches tall, weighing about 12 ounces and having a wingspan of about 24 inches. They are colorful, with a mix of red, white, brown, black and yellow feathers, depending on the season. Their bills are black, short and shaped like daggers.
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Step 2
Check out the expansiveness of the horned grebe's territory, from their breeding ground in Alaska and northern Canada south to Washington and Oregon, stretching to the Dakotas and Great Lakes. The grebe winters south along the Pacific coast to southern California and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to Texas.
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Step 3
Note the horned grebe not only eats fish, aquatic insects, crustaceans and mollusks, they also eat some of their own feathers. This forms a matted plug in their stomach that both serves as a filter and holds fish bones until they're ready to be digested. The parents also feed some of the feathers to their young to get them started early.
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Step 4
Determine that you're watching the courtship of these birds when you see them "rushing," an elaborate dance where both birds come up out of the water, side by side. They build their nests on floating platforms in shallow water and continue with the construction, even while the eggs are being laid and incubated.
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Step 5
Learn more about the horned grebe whose call sounds like a loud, nasal "aaarrrh" with a trill. They usually don't call in winter.
