Tricolored grebe
Tachybaptus tricolor (G. R. Gray, 1861)
Status not recordedbirds
The tricolored grebe (Tachybaptus tricolor) is a species in the family Podicipedidae, order Podicipediformes. Recorded adults weigh 167.1 g to 180.4 g and live up to 13.1 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the tricolored grebe
- Weight
- 167.1 g – 180.4 g
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 13.1 years
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 17.5 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 20.5 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5
- Age at maturity
- 12 months – 17.9 months
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the tricolored grebe live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The tricolored grebe is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Is the tricolored grebe endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the tricolored grebe classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPodicipediformes
- familyPodicipedidae
- genusTachybaptus
- SpeciesTachybaptus tricolor (G. R. Gray, 1861)
Synonyms Podiceps tricolor, Tachybaptus ruficollis tricolor
Other names and names in other languages (18)
- Tricoloured grebeEnglish
- potápka tříbarváCzech
- Trefarvet LappedykkerDanish
- Dreifarb-ZwergtaucherGerman
- trikolora greboEsperanto
- کشیم سهرنگهPersian
- Grèbe tricoloreFrench
- Tuffetto tricoloreItalian
- Indische DodaarsDutch
- indonesiadykkerNorwegian
- perkozek trójbarwnyPolish
- mergulhão-tricolorPortuguese
- Трехцветная поганкаRussian
- potápka trojfarebnáSlovak
- indonesisk smådoppingSwedish
- пірникоза зондськаUkrainian
- 三色鸊鷈Chinese
- 三色小䴙䴘Chinese
Relatives of the tricolored grebe
Other species in the same genus Tachybaptus.

Little grebe
Tachybaptus ruficollis
Rusty grebe
Tachybaptus rufolavatus

Australasian grebe
Tachybaptus novaehollandiae

Least grebe
Tachybaptus dominicus

Madagascar grebe
Tachybaptus pelzelnii
CompareTricolored grebe vs Little grebeTricolored grebe vs Rusty grebeTricolored grebe vs Australasian grebeTricolored grebe vs Least grebe
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the tricolored grebe?
An adult tricolored grebe weighs 167.1 g – 180.4 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the tricolored grebe live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the tricolored grebe for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
How long does the tricolored grebe live?
The tricolored grebe has a recorded lifespan of 13.1 years.
What kind of animal is the tricolored grebe?
The tricolored grebe (Tachybaptus tricolor) belongs to the family Podicipedidae in the order Podicipediformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Tricolored grebe (Tachybaptus tricolor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/tricolored-grebe
“Tricolored grebe (Tachybaptus tricolor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/tricolored-grebe.
@misc{tricolored_grebe_2026,
title = {Tricolored grebe (Tachybaptus tricolor)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/tricolored-grebe},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}