Pied-billed Grebe

The pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) is a small, stocky, grayish brown grebe with a stout chicken-like bill. The sexes appear similar, although females are slightly smaller than the males. The name “pied-billed” describes the bird during the breeding season when it sports a white bill with a vertical black stripe (i.e. “pied”). It is also called: dabchick, hell-diver, and water witch. It is rarely seen flying, as it prefers to escape danger by diving, and migrates at night. Only once have I seen one fly.

A breeding pair of pied-billed grebes on Goose Pond. Photo by James Otto

Young grebes feasting on fathead minnows. Photo by Richard Armstrong

It feeds on aquatic organisms including insects, small fish including fathead minnows, tadpoles, and crustaceans. The pied-billed grebe is the most wide-spread of the American grebes, occurring throughout much of North, Central and South America. In 1991 Samuel Robbins wrote that in Wisconsin it is a rare winter resident, a common migrant, and a common summer resident. It nests in Wisconsin wetlands having both emergent vegetation and open water areas. During the second Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas project pied-billed grebes were recorded as possible+ nesters in 293 (23%) of the 1283 priority blocks of the study. They were confirmed to nest in 150 (12%) of the state-wide priority blocks. Columbia County is a pied-billed grebe hotspot with 50% of the 18 priority blocks having nesting confirmations of pied-bills.

Recently hatched pied-billed grebe chick. Photo by James Otto

The pied-billed grebe is my favorite species of bird. Although not colorful like wood ducks, orioles, or the wood warblers, they are just as fascinating. During the summers of 1979 and 1980 I studied nesting pied-billed grebes on Rush Lake, Winnebago County, under the direction of UW-Oshkosh Professor David Strohmeyer. What follows is based in great part on my Rush Lake study.

Rush Lake is a 3,070-acre prairie pothole wetland. At the time of my study, Rush Lake had excellent habitat for nesting pied-billed grebes. There were extensive beds of hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus); areas of cattail, particularly along the shores; plus, much open water. At that time, I estimated that there were at least 200 pairs of pied-billed grebes nesting at Rush Lake. Unfortunately, the wetland habitat at Rush Lake has deteriorated over the years, but hopefully the ongoing restoration project will soon return this lake to its historic status as prime wildlife habitat.

Winter plumage pied-billed grebe. Photo by Richard Armstrong

Although a few pied-billed grebes overwinter in Wisconsin, most return in March or early April, as soon as the ice leaves the rivers, lakes and wetlands. In Wisconsin, pied-billed grebes nest from late April until early August. Their nests consist of a floating layer of vegetation onto which a mass of partly decomposed vegetation has been added. Coming upon such a nest one might easily mistake it for the remnants of a muskrat’s lunch.

The nest is usually located in a bed of emergent vegetation. One egg is laid per day, although a day is often skipped before the final egg is laid. The total number of eggs laid varies from three to ten, but the typical clutch contains from six to eight eggs. When the adults are away from the nest, the eggs are covered with material from the nest, thus hiding the eggs, and keeping them warm and moist.  The average incubation period is twenty-two days, after which the eggs hatch over a period of several days. Within hours of hatching the young are off the nest swimming. In contrast to the rather muted plumage of the adults, the downy young have black and white stripes, a red eye ring, and a white, black and red bill. The youngsters often ride on their parent’s back, where they stay warm, dry and safe.

Pied-billed grebe nest with eggs covered. Photo by James Otto

Pied-billed grebe nest with clutch of 10 eggs uncovered. Photo by James Otto

I found and followed a total of 150 pied-billed grebe nests on Rush Lake. Of these, 115 were successful in that one or more of the eggs hatched. The two greatest causes of nest failure were foul weather (13 nests) and egg predators (13 nests).

Pied-billed grebe on nest, Goose Pond east. Photo by James Otto

Today, one of my favorite places to observe pied-billed grebes during late spring and summer is Schoeneberg Marsh Waterfowl Production Area, which is located about three miles NE of Goose Pond. While this wetland is well known to southern Wisconsin birders as the summer home of a handful of the state-endangered red-necked grebes, it is also home to dozens of pairs of pied-billed grebes. Hike out to the observation deck at the end of the trail north of the Priem Road parking lot or walk to the north end of the Harvey Road remnant that begins at the parking area for Madison Audubon’s Erstad Prairie. When you arrive, stop, watch and listen. Chances are, you will hear pied-billed grebes before you spot one. They make several different calls, but the most commonly heard are the cuckoo-like “caow, caow, caow, caow, …” and the odd laugh-like rattily call.

Interesting tidbits:

The pied-billed grebe is the only extant member of the genus Podilymbus. The flightless Atitlán grebe (Podilymbus gigas) of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala was declared extinct around 1990. 

A nesting pied-billed grebe that I banded at Rush Lake on June 6, 1980 was recovered April 1, 1981 at Seabury Creek, Alabama. The recovery site, located near Mobile Bay, is 906 miles south of Rush Lake. This bird probably spent the winter there.

Another Rush Lake pied-billed grebe, which I captured July 7, 1980 on a nest containing six eggs, was undergoing a complete wing molt. All old primaries and secondaries (i.e. the flight feathers) had been shed, and there was 10 cm of new feather growth of the outermost primary feathers. (Multi-tasking, I guess!)

 Written by James Otto, Madison Audubon Goose Pond Sanctuary volunteer