How to Identify aPied-billed Grebe
Podilymbus podiceps · 11.8–15 in (30–38 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Uniform brown with a black throat patch and a stout whitish bill crossed by a black band. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Dori / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Second photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- Thick, short, chicken-like bill — not a thin grebe spike
- Black ring around the bill in breeding season
- Plain brown with no wing patches
- Almost no visible tail
Similar species
What it sounds like
A loud, far-carrying series of hollow "cow-cow-cow-cowp" notes that slow at the end.
Behaviour that gives it away
Sinks slowly out of sight rather than diving, by squeezing air from its feathers — earning the nickname water witch.
Habitat & range
Ponds, marshes, sluggish rivers and lake edges with emergent vegetation.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is present all year and a winter visitor.
What it eats
Fish, crayfish, aquatic insects and amphibians.
Did you know?
It can sink slowly beneath the surface without a ripple by compressing air out of its plumage.
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