Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps podiceps. Photograph taken in the San José del Cabo estuary, Baja California Sur, April 2017. Photograph courtesy of Carol Snow, Del Mar, California.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps podiceps. Photographs taken in the greater Mexico City area, March 2021. Photographs and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps podiceps. Photograph taken in the coastal area of Yavaros, Sonora, March 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, is one of three subspecies of Pied-billed Grebe, and the only subspecies found in Mexico. They are a member of the Podicipedidae Family of Grebes, which has twenty-two members placed in six genera, and one of two species of the Podilymbus Genus. They are known in Mexico as zampullín picogrueso.

The Pied-billed Grebe is small in stature. The sexes are similar in appearance, with the males being larger than the females with larger heavier bills. They have dark brown plumage with the sides of the neck and flank being reddish brown with a pale throat with a short, high, arched, laterally compressed pale brown bill that has a vertical black band and a decurved tip forming a slight hook. During breeding season their bill is bluish white with a prominent black bar. Their undertail-coverts, belly and underwings are white, and their tail is short, pointed and wispy. Their iris is dark brown.

The Pied-billed Grebe common being found in freshwater marshes, lakes, and slow-moving rivers, and in winter in brackish estuaries. They are opportunistic feeder consuming a wide variety of crayfish, crustaceans, fishes, frogs, aquatic insects and their larvae, and other invertebrates with most of their collections made under water. They are seldom seen in flight. They travel only at night and utilized submerging as a defense mechanism. They are an awkward clumsy flier, requiring long running takeoffs across the water’s surface to become airborne. They cannot take off from land. They are an accomplished swimmer and diver. They are secretive and their loud call is normally heard before they are seen. They reproduce by making floating nests anchored to aquatic plants. Both parents participate in the nest building in emergent vegetation, incubation, care of the young and aggressively defend their territories from intruders. Their life spans are unknown.

In Mexico the Pied-billed Grebe is found throughout the country being a year-round resident. They are long range migrators capable of making transoceanic flights.

The Pied-billed Grebe is a straightforward identification that cannot be confused with any other species.

From a conservation perspective the Pied-billed Grebe is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their low term survival is threated by presences of herbicides and pesticides within and the loss of their wetlands.