Pied-billed Grebe
Order: Podicipediformes
Family: Podicipedidae
Genus:Podilymbus
Species:podiceps
Description
- Length: 13"
- Wing Span: 16"
- Weight: 1lb (450g)
- Description: Small water bird often found on ponds and small lakes. Distinct behavior of diving under water and out of view when danger is present. Non-breeding: brownish overasll with a darker back and a brown stout chicken-like bill. Breeding: Looks much like a non-breeding adult with the exception of a black throat and a black ring on a pale bill.
- Gender Differences: Male & Females alike. Juveniles resemble non-breeding adult. Young chicks have white and black striped faces with a large red bill. See photos at right.
Factoids:
- The Pied-billed Grebe is rarely seen in flight. It prefers to escape predators by diving, and it migrates at night. However, it can fly, and stray individuals have reached Hawaii and Europe.
- Although it swims like a duck, the Pied-billed Grebe does not have webbed feet. Instead of having a webbing connecting all the toes, each toe has lobes extending out on the sides that provide extra surface area for paddling.
- The downy chicks can leave the nest soon after hatching, but they do not swim well at first and do not spend much time in the water in the first week. They sleep on the back of a parent, held close beneath its wings. By the age of four weeks, the young grebes are spending day and night on the water. For the first ten days their response to danger is to climb onto a parent's back. After that, when danger threatens, they dive under water.
All photo, video and audio on this site are ©2010 Jamie Osterbuhr
Life List Index #73, October 13th, 2006 - California
Sources: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Sibley's Guide to Birds, Sibley's Birding Bascis, The Sibley's Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
 |
|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |