ML070120343

Red Billed Grebe - JAFNPP SEIS Web Reference

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,Alt About Birds Pagel of3 X--CORNELL LAB of ORNITHOLOGY S

All About Birds Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps Order PODICIPEDIFORMES - Family PODICIPEDIDAE Summary Page Detailed Page Menu Cool Facts Description Similar Speci es Sound Ra nge Habitat Food Behavior SReproductio.

Con serovation Status Other Names A small diving bird with a chicken-Ike bill, the Pied-billed Grebe is common on lakes and ponds across North America. It is rarely seen flying and prefers to sink out of sight when danger threatens.

Cool Facts

• 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.

9 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.

Description Pied-billed Grebe, adult, breeding plumage About the photog raphs range map 4"Play sound-from this-speces 0

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Size: 30-38 cm (12-15 in)

Wingspan: 45-62 cm (18-24 in)

Weight: 253-568 g (8.93-20.05 ounces)

Small waterbird.

Brown head and body, with tufted, whitish rump.

Small head and bill.

top 1+ ZOOM Pied-billed Grebe, adult, non-http://www.birds.comell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pied-billed-Grebe-dtl.html 12/29/2006

.All About Birds Bill short, but thick.

Bill pale, with black ring around it in summer.

• Black throat in summer.

Page 2 of 3 breeding plumage 0

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0 Crown to back dark brown.

Face and neck light gray.

Chest mixed white and light brownish yellow, with irregular black spots.

Belly white, with some black spots.

Flanks white to pale brownish yellow.

Undertail white.

Tail dark brown.

Legs and feet black.

Breeding adult (Alternate Plumage): Bill ivory-white to bluish gray, with thick black band around middle.

Throat black. Eyes reddish brown. Eyering bluish white.

Nonbreeding adult (Basic Plumage): Bill brownish flesh, sometimes with faint band. Throat white, shading to grayish on sides of neck and head. Sides of neck, throat, and upper breast reddish brown. Eyering brownish to bluish white.

Sex Differences Sexes look alike.

Immature Juvenile similar to winter adult, but face with dark and pale stripes.

Similar Species

" Other grebes lack black band on bill, have thinner bills, and have white wing patches.

" Ducks have flatter bills and do not sit so low in the water.

Sound Song a loud "kuk-kuk-kuk, kaow, kaow, kaow, kaow, kaowk, kaowk, kawk."

>I >sten to songs of this species Range Lp.

Summer Range Range Map Breeds from southern Northwest Territories and central and southern Canada southward across the United States into Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Winter Range Winters in central and southern United States southward to Central America, wherever open water can be found. Also in Caribbean and South America.

Habitat Breeds on seasonal or permanent ponds with dense stands of emergent vegetation, bays and sloughs. Uses most types of wetlands in winter.

Food Fish, crustaceans (especially crayfish), and aquatic insects.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pied-billedGrebedtl.html 12/29/2006

-All Ahout Birds Behavior Pied-billed Grebe Podilyrnbus, podiceps Foraging Dives underwater for food, in open water and among aquatic vegetation.

Reproduction Nest Type An open bowl in a platform of floating vegetation.

Egg Description Bluish white.

Clutch. Size LEGEND

• Year Round 3-10 eggs.

U Summer (breeding) rMint (non-bieoding)

Condition at Hatching f

Migration Downy and active; can leave nest within one day, but Man b come taLo 04 o1-INYO usually stay on nest platform.

Rane dala oy. NalweServe

© 2003 Cornell Lab of Conservation Status top Ornithology Abo ut the _map Common. Breeding populations declining in some areas, especially at edge of range.

Other Names Grebe 6 bec bigarr6 (French)

Zambullidor piquigrueso, Mac6 picopinto (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Muller, M. J., and R. W. Storer. 1999. Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). In Tbe Bi.rds of NQrth to Ame-rica, No. 410 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

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Summary species account >>

http://www.birds.comell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pied-billedGrebedtl.html 12/29/2006