Morphologische Variation einer europäischen Population des HaubentauchersPodiceps cristatus in Beziehung zu Alter, Geschlecht und Jahreszeit

Abstract

A sample of 1450 Great Crested Grebes from the non-breeding season (August–March) which had accidentally drowned in fishing nets in Lake IJsselmeer, The Netherlands, was examined for age and sex differences in linear measurements, body mass, plumage, leg colour and gonad condition. During skinning and drying, wings of non-moulting birds decreased 2.41 mm in length, and wings of wing-moulting birds significantly more: 4.72 mm. The shrinkage is due to changes in the feather follicles and wing elements and not to changes in the actual feather length. Measurements of body, wing, bill, tarsus and keel lengths showed that males are larger than females. The sexual dimorphism is most pronounced in bill length (11 % difference). Differences between juvenile (first winter) and adult birds are small or non-existent. A discriminant function incorporating wing and bill length (age groups lumped), correctly classified the sex of 89 % of the original sample, and 85 % of an independent sample of starved beached birds. The presence (in juveniles) or absence (in adults) of brown lesser upper wing-coverts is a reliable ageing criterion during the whole non-breeding season: only 2 % juvenile females are misidentified. The striped head plumage of juveniles disappears during winter, but there is a large variation between individuals. Adults tend to have one or more greater upper wing-coverts with white inner vanes. Adults often have a wider white stripe between eye and crest than juveniles. Adult males in summer plumage have longer crests and tippets than females. The colour and barring patterns of the inner tarsi vary greatly. Adults generally have a higher density of black bars than juveniles. Adult males appear to have two peaks in testis size: one in spring and a second one in autumn. The grebes weigh least during the wing moult period in August–September. Average body masses of all age and sex groups increase from September to November and then remain essentially stable until April. This pattern is very different from the peaked body mass pattern, described for dabbling ducks and waders wintering at the same latitudes, but resembles the body mass patterns of two sawbill species which also feed on fish in Lake IJsselmeer.