Pied-billed Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe [Internet Photo]

The Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) is our smallest grebe.  Grebes are classed in the Podicipedidae family.  All members have lobed toes.  They build nests of matted vegetation on the ponds and lakes on which they live.  There are 7 species in 4 genera of the grebe family of which we normally have 3 species here in New Brunswick; Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe and Pied-billed Grebe.  The former 2 species are seen on salt water and Pied-billed Grebe prefers fresh water.  When the young of grebes are hatched, they are striped, very distinctive looking.

The Pied-billed Grebe is about 32 cm (13 inches) long.  It appears very small among the reeds and grasses of the ponds on which it lives.  This grebe is a fairly common summer resident here.  It is stocky in appearance and has brown upper parts with barred sides and flanks.  It has distinctive white undertail coverts.  The chin is black and the white bill has a distinctive black ring.  The bill is thick and the head appears large.  Both adult genders look the same.  In winter the adults lose the ring on the bill.  See photo below showing the ring beginning to fade.

Pied-billed Grebe 

 

The voice of this grebe is remarkable. They make a lot of noise for the size of them.  The long call is described in National Geographic Complete Birds of North America as, "a series of slightly hollow, rapid-paced cooing notes run into slower-paced, gulping clucks that can fade away or run on into more prolonged variations".  That sound is characteristic of many of our marshes.  When one learns that it is made by this small grebe, it is not forgotten.  The Pied-billed Grebe spends its summers in most of southern Canada and the northern US.  It winters in southern and central US, Mexico and the West Indies.  

The floating nest of this species is well-hidden and made of dead vegetation anchored to emergent plants.  The 2 to 10 light blue eggs are incubated for 23 to 27 days by both adults.  They eat fish, crustaceans, beetles, dragonfly nymphs and aquatic insects.  They forage by diving and collect their food usually underwater.  

Pied-billed Grebe Showing Young [Internet Photo]

The Pied-billed Grebe rarely flies when encountered, preferring to hide in the vegetation.  It has the unique feature of being able to submerge itself so just the head is showing.  This makes it nearly impossible to see.  Folk names for this species are interesting: dabchick, devil-diver, dive-dapper, hell-diver and water witch.  I have heard it called hell-diver by duck hunters who spend time on marshes.  

This neat little grebe is fun to watch and should be fairly easy to spot in New Brunswick in the summer.  A good place to see them is from the boardwalk at the Ducks Unlimited Marsh in Sackville.