Smaller and stubbier than great crested grebes. Their breeding plumage is easily recognisable: dark reddish-brown neck, grey cheeks, and a black beak with a characteristic light-yellow stump, which makes the bird look like a clown. The only grebe with a black and yellow beak. In the winter, they differ from a great crested grebe thanks to their shorter and stubbier grey neck, which contrasts the white front of the neck and breast. Nests in low-water vegetation-rich lakes and smaller waterbodies. Eats fish and water insects.