The
Pied-billed Grebe (
Podilymbus podiceps) is a
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of the
grebeA grebe is a member of the Podicipediformes order, a widely distributed order of freshwater diving birds, some of which visit the sea when migrating and in winter...
family of water birds. Since the
Atitlán GrebeThe Atitlán Grebe , also known as Giant Grebe, Giant Pied-billed Grebe, or Poc, is an extinct water bird, a relative of the Pied-billed Grebe. It was endemic at the Lago de Atitlán in Guatemala at an altitude of 1700 m asl. Thanks to the field work of the American ecologist Anne LaBastille, its...
,
Podilymbus gigas, has become extinct, it is the sole extant member of the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
Podilymbus.
The Pied-billed Grebe is small, stocky, and short-necked. It is 31–38 cm (12"-15") in length, it has a wingspan of 45–62 cm (18"-24") and weighs 253-568 g (8.93-20.05 ounces).
The
Pied-billed Grebe (
Podilymbus podiceps) is a
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of the
grebeA grebe is a member of the Podicipediformes order, a widely distributed order of freshwater diving birds, some of which visit the sea when migrating and in winter...
family of water birds. Since the
Atitlán GrebeThe Atitlán Grebe , also known as Giant Grebe, Giant Pied-billed Grebe, or Poc, is an extinct water bird, a relative of the Pied-billed Grebe. It was endemic at the Lago de Atitlán in Guatemala at an altitude of 1700 m asl. Thanks to the field work of the American ecologist Anne LaBastille, its...
,
Podilymbus gigas, has become extinct, it is the sole extant member of the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
Podilymbus.
Description
The Pied-billed Grebe is small, stocky, and short-necked. It is 31–38 cm (12"-15") in length, it has a wingspan of 45–62 cm (18"-24") and weighs 253-568 g (8.93-20.05 ounces). It is usually brown or gray in color. It has a short, blunt chicken-like bill, which in summer is encircled by a broad black band (hence the name). It is the only grebe that does not show a white wing patch in flight. The sexes look alike (no
sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include colour , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks.-Examples:In...
).
Diet
Pied-billed Grebes feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates, and also on small
fishA fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...
and amphibians (
frogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s,
tadpoleA tadpole, polliwog , or pollywiggle is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly of a frog or toad.- Appellation :The name "tadpole" is from Middle English taddepol, made up of the elements tadde, "toad", and...
s). Pied-billed Grebes have been shown to eat their own feathers to aid in digestion (prevent injury from small bones) .
Breeding and Distribution
The Pied-billed Grebe breeds in south-central
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, throughout the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
Central AmericaManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
, the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
, and temperate
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. It creates an open bowl type nest in a platform of floating vegetation, loosely anchored by the cattails to float with the waves. When it leaves its nest it covers its eggs with vegetation. After a period of time the vegetation will stain the eggs and help conceal them better.
Although this
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
does not appear to be a strong flier, it has occurred in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
as a rare vagrant on a number of occasions, and one bird in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
bred with a
Little GrebeThe Little Grebe , also known as Dabchick, is 23 to 29 cm in length. It is the smallest European member of the grebe family of water birds and is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.-Description:...
, producing hybrid young.
Habitat
The most widespread of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n grebes, it is found on many open waters, such as remote
pondA pond is an inland body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens designed for aesthetic ornamentation, fish ponds designed for commercial fish breeding, and solar...
s, marshes, and sluggish
streamsIn computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...
. It is usually the first grebe to arrive on northern inland waters in springtime, and the last to leave in autumn. It is rare on salt water.
Etymology
Podilymbus is a
contractionIn current English usage, contraction is the shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters.In traditional grammar, contraction can denote the formation of a new word from one word or a group of words, for example, by elision...
of
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
podicipes ("feet at the buttocks", from
podici-, "rump-" +
pes, "foot") - the origin of the name of the grebe
orderIn scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
- and
Ancient GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
kolymbos, "diver".
podiceps, "rump-headed", from
podici- +
New LatinThe term New Latin, or Neo-Latin, is used to describe a form of the Latin language used for scholarly and scientific publications and for the formation of scientific terminology, such as botanical terms and taxonomic classification, after the end of the Renaissance period...
ceps
Miscellaneous
This grebe is usually silent, except in breeding season when the male voices a loud, laughing
cuck, cuck, cuck or
cow, cow, cow. It rarely flies, preferring to escape danger by diving.
Folk names of this grebe include dabchick, devil-diver, dive-dapper, hell-diver, and water witch.
There are several prehistoric taxa of
Podilymbus described from
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
remains:
- Podilymbus majusculus (Late Pliocene of WC USA)
- Podilymbus wetmorei (Late Pleistocene of Florida, USA)
- Podilymbus podiceps magnus - a paleosubspecies of the Pied-billed Grebe of uncertain validity.
External links