Pied-billed grebe

The pied-billed grebe is a small diving bird that lives in freshwater and receives its name for the two colors on its gray bill that has a black band in the breeding season. This water bird is a superb swimmer and diver and may dive to depths of 20 feet (6 meters) and hold its breath for long periods.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Podicipediformes

Family: Podicipedidae

Genus: Podilymbus

Species: Podiceps

Pied-billed grebes live in small flocks on coastal inlets, lagoons, slow-flowing rivers, freshwater lakes, and estuaries, but not in the Amazon River basin. Birds in the south rarely migrate, and some birds in British Columbia and around the Great Lakes only sometimes migrate. Flocks of 50 to 1,000 birds migrate on February nights to freshwater lakes, swamps, marshes, and reedbeds to breed.

Pied-billed grebes are 12 to 15 inches (30 to 38 centimeters) long and weigh 9 to 20 ounces (250 to 570 grams). When not breeding, their bodies have brown plumage, or feathering, on their backs and heads, reddish throats, and light-colored underparts. From mid-February through March, their plumage is brown on their upperparts and lighter on their rumps and underneath. Their chins turn black, and a black band appears on each bird's gray bill. This two-colored bill gives them the name pied-billed grebe.

Grebes' lobed, or slightly webbed, feet give them excellent swimming and diving skills. They spend much of their day in the water looking for small aquatic plants and animals. They catch crayfish, salamanders, fish, leeches, frogs, and various insects, like damselflies, water boatmen, and backswimmers. They catch some food while diving, which may last several minutes. These long periods in the water are possible because grebes regularly preen their plumage to keep it oily. The oil from glands beneath their wings provides the oil to keep their nearly 20,000 feathers water-repellant.

In the face of danger or other disturbances, the grebe sinks slowly and silently into the water until only its neck and head are showing. Then it dives and swims away.

These grebes mate between mid-February and March. Pairs of grebes usually form before this time when they are still at their winter grounds and have not yet migrated. When courting, the male and female swim toward each other and display their tail feathers while they sway their necks. Males may also dive for weeds and give them to their mate.

Breeding and nesting occur in marshes, lakes, and ponds with plenty of rushes, reeds, and grasses. Each pair builds a floating nest away from the other pairs. They weave reeds into a mat or platform around nine inches (23 centimeters) high and about 20 inches (50 centimeters) across. This floating nest is anchored to weeds rooted on the bottom. Some floating nests may be up to 60 feet (18 meters) from shore. The female lays two to ten eggs each season, and the male and female take turns incubating the eggs for 23 to 27 days. They cover the eggs with weeds to hide them and keep them warm when they leave the nest to feed. The chicks spend their first 3 weeks mostly in the nest and learn to swim and dive quickly. They depend on their parents for food until they are nearly 3 months old. When they are one to two years old, they can mate. The life span of pied-billed grebes is a maximum of 4 to 5 years.

The call of the pied-billed grebe sounds like that of an owl. The call starts slowly but becomes faster, louder, and higher before it ends with a "wup" or "pow" sound.

Bibliography

Muller, Martin J., and Robert W. Storer. "Pied-billed Grebe." Birds of the World, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 4 Mar. 2020, birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/pibgre/cur/introduction. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

"Pied-billed Grebe." All About Birds, Cornell University, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pied-billed‗Grebe/overview. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Smith, Autumn. "Podilymbus Podiceps." Animal Diversity Web, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Podilymbus‗podiceps. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.