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  • Home
  • APAL
    • A-PAL History >
      • A-PAL Humane Society Leadership Team
      • APAL Leadership Opportunities
    • APAL Programs >
      • The Rusty Fund >
        • Rusty's Pet Tails
      • Save the Kittens
      • Spay or Neuter
      • Second Chance K9 >
        • TCK9-2014 Graduates
      • Community Cats >
        • Understanding Feral Cats
        • How to Trap a Feral Cat
      • Special Needs >
        • Special Needs Stories
      • Adopt a Friend
      • Trap-Neuter-Return
      • APAL Tracking Our Progress
    • Support A-PAL >
      • Volunteer for APAL
      • Foster for A-Pal >
        • Foster Forms >
          • Foster Program Protocol
          • Kitten Health Checklist
          • Kitten Growth Chart
          • Guide to Feline URI
      • Donate to A-PAL >
        • Donate your Car
        • Giving Tuesday 2020
      • A-PAL Wish List
      • A-PAL Facility Sponsor
    • APAL Events >
      • APAL Calendar
      • APAL Past Events >
        • SantaPaws2019
        • Bark in the Park 2019
        • Whiskers and Wine 2017
        • Whiskers and Wine 2014
        • Bark in the Park 2014
        • Whiskers and Wine 2015
        • Bark In The Park 2015
        • Maui Raffle
        • Santa Paws 2015
    • Partners >
      • Shelter Partners >
        • Shelter Partners on TSPN
        • Dec14News-PitBulls
        • Jan15News-Excel
        • Feb15News-BenefitsOfPets
        • Feb15News-HarmfulAlgaeBlooms
        • Mar15News-Hoarding
        • Apr15News-TNR
        • Sep15News-QAMargeB
        • Oct15News-ButteFire
        • Oct15News-Bats
        • Nov15News-SeparationAnxiety
        • Dec15News-Tips4Treats
        • Jan16-Volunteer
        • Apr16-TNR
        • July16News-Center
        • Sep16News-ACART
        • Nov17News-ServiceDogs
  • TCWC
    • Find an animal in need? >
      • Audio Wildlife Tips
      • WhereAreWe
    • TCWC History >
      • TCWC Leadership Team
      • TCWC Leadership Opportunities
    • Wildlife Programs >
      • Education >
        • TCWC Education Events >
          • TCWC Education Animals
        • WildlifeSavesUs
        • Living Wildlife Friendly >
          • Save the Bees
          • Holiday Decorations
          • Kill That Lawn
          • Songbird Concert Tips
          • Holiday Trash
          • Alert Your Birds
          • Water to Help the Critters!
          • Bread is for Sandwiches
          • No Dogs Allowed
          • Repurpose to Feed the Birds
          • GoNative
          • Netting It Out
          • Balloons
          • E-Waste
          • Organic Food
          • AllThatGlitters
          • Fly Strips and Glue Traps
          • Toxic Household Products
          • Recycling Pumpkins
          • Tree Trimming Tips
          • Saving Venomous Species
          • Think Biodegradeable
        • Nuisance Wildlife >
          • Nuisance-SayNoToTrapping
          • Foxlights
          • Wildproof Your Home
        • Gold Country Critters
        • Keep Them Wild and Free
        • TCWC Videos
        • Points to Ponder
      • TCWC-Tracking Our Progress >
        • TCWC 2016 Impact Report
        • TCWC 2017 Impact Report
        • TCWC 2018 Impact Report
        • TCWC 2019 Impact Report
        • TCWC 2020 Impact Report
      • TCWC Patients >
        • Success Stories >
          • 1 - Opossum Call
          • 2 - Raccoon Behind the Grill!
          • 3 - Saving a Raven
          • LongTripHome
          • Anita's Bird Comes Home
          • College the Wild Way
          • Releases
        • TCWC Critter Show
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        • TCWC Grand Opening
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February 2021 - the Pied-billed Grebe

Picture
What bird is part submarine?

This bird swims like a duck on water, but also can control its buoyancy so that only the upper half of the head appears above water while swimming. This is a pied-billed grebe.

Pied-billed means having two or more different colors. During breeding season, its bill is silver/white with a black vertical band. Grebes are in the genus Podiceps which means “feet at the buttocks” and indeed, the feet on these birds are located near their rear end and help propel them through the water.

They are a chunky waterbird with a blocky head on a thin neck. They have a short, thick bill good for crunching on crustaceans, and a very short tail. Mostly brown, they are a bit darker above and tawny underneath. Spring and summer, the crown and neck turn black and the bill, as mentioned above, changes to silver/white with a black stripe.

We can find these grebes all over North America and most of South America. In our area, they are found around Lake Camanche and New Hogan Lake plus anywhere you will find flat, sluggish water that is either fresh or brackish. They like freshwater wetlands, bays, sloughs, slow-moving rivers, and even sewage ponds.

They forage by diving for their food which consists of crustaceans, crabs, shrimps, snails, mussels, dragonfly nymphs, minnows and more. Grebes also consume lots of their own feathers. As much as half of the stomach’s contents can be feathers. These feather bits form a sieve that keeps indigestible prey parts from moving into the intestines. The bits are formed into a pellet that is regurgitated.

Grebes nest amongst tall emergent vegetation and lower-growing plants in water deeper than 9 inches to allow for escape, plentiful feeding and good nest location. Their nest is an open bowl on a floating platform. The platform may be a lily leaf or stems of bullrushes. Both male and female may take as little as a day to build the nest that will support one egg. They continue to add to the nest to support more eggs. Two to ten eggs will make up the clutch which take 23-27 days to hatch. The young are precocial – they are able to leave the nest a day after hatching. Young will soon climb on the back of the adults and stay there for the first week. Parents even dive under water with the young clamped on their back.  

They are not good fliers and are clumsy on land. By trapping water in their feathers, they control their buoyancy to sink deeply, or stay just below the surface of the water.

California was home to the longest lived pied-billed grebe at 4 years, 7 months.

Tri County Wildlife Care, a local nonprofit started in 1994, is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of our native wildlife and helping our community live in balance with wildlife. They envision a world where wildlife and people thrive together. For more information call (209) 283-3245, or visit pawspartners.org.

Learn More!
Wikipedia
Cornell
Audubon

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