The Great Crested Grebe

If we had to conceive a bird able to spend its entire life in water, we would certainly imagine it with a slender body, two rearward lower limbs and lobated toes, and two narrow and pointed wings; we must not forget its plumage, which should be perfectly waterproofed.

Combining all these structural features together, we would create a "grebe".

Anyway, we would be late in our project, since nature has already accomplished that. And the result is so excellent that, even after millions of years of evolutionary processes, this bird has practically remained identical to its fossil ancestor.

This is the reason why the grebes are always the first species we meet when we leaf through any guide to the identification of birds, which usually lists them in a phylogentical order, i.e. in a taxonomic sequence that expresses the evolutive relations between different groups of animal.

The grebes form a systematic group, the Podicipediformes, which has remained isolated and does not have any close relation with other groups. Amongst the twenty or so species of grebe that form this singular systematic group common all over the world, we find a species classified with the scientific name Podiceps cristatus: the great crested grebe.

Despite the irregularity of their distribution in Italy, nowadays the great crested grebes are common in our lakes and marshes, and Lake Vico hosts one of the most numerous colonies. For this reason, the local Managing Authority chose the Great Crested Grebe as the symbol of the Natural Reserve of Lake Vico.