Pied-billed grebes
Images copyright by Mark A. Chappell
Pied-billed grebes are common small grebes in North America. The adult grebes in these photos, with black-and-white bills and black throats, were at the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area in Riverside, California (above) and Santee, San Diego County, California. The birds at upper right and two rows down at right are doing the grebe 'submarine' trick -- quietly submerging with no apparent movement of legs or wings, and the one immediately below at right is vocalizing (these grebes have a strange hooting call). Winter-plumage birds are dark gray-brown on top and buffy-brown below; most of these were in Palo Alto, California. Despite their somewhat goofy appearance, pied-billed grebes are capable hunters of small fish, as shown in several images below (the bird looks rather redish because I took the photos shortly after sunrise). The grebes swimming in water with bright dawn reflections were at Bolsa Chica wetlands in Orange County, California. Finally, I photographed the mid-sized, striped-necked pied-billed grebe chick (bottom of page) in a small pond near the South Padre Island convention center in Texas.
