The Little Grebe has a vast range across Europe, Africa, Asia, and parts of Australasia, inhabiting freshwater wetlands from the Middle East to China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia, including sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Australia, though some populations are migratory, while others are resident.

It is fairly common throughout West Malaysia, especially on those historical tin mining ponds in Perak and parts of Selangor. The Little Grebe, without a proper or correct local Malay name, hence the name “Tetimbol Kecil” is coined. It is a resident species, although there would be some migrants coming in from the north during the temperate winter. It have preference for vegetated marshland, not in big fast flowing rivers or too salty coastal water, but brackish.

They are small, compact bird, our smallest “duck” with a pointed bill. In breeding plumage, it has a dark head, rich rufous-chestnut neck, cheeks, and flanks, with a distinctive yellow patch at the base of its bill. Non-breeding birds are a dingy, pale brown. They are excellent swimmers and divers that pursues fish, insects, and crustaceans underwater, and often pursuing prey under water for a short distance or time and appearing somehwere away. They are often seen in pairs or small flocks and are shy, preferring to hide in vegetation. They occasionally come to land, on the edge of the pond or lake.

They build floating nests on water.

Very common throughout Seberang Perai, especially south district, but less so on the Island.

https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/little-grebe-tachybaptus-ruficollis