Birds of the Hackensack: 

Pied-billed Grebe

 

By Ivan Kossak

When one first sees a Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) swimming in a small pond or marshy area, usually the first instinct is to consider this waterfowl a duck.  However, on closer examination, the grebe’s bill is not flat and wide like a duck’s, but rather pointed and narrow.  The grebe family is distributed worldwide with seven species occurring in North America. 

Among North American grebes, the Pied-billed is unique in having black markings forming a ring on its bill (hence its name).  These markings only appear in the grebe’s breeding plumage.  The Pied-billed grebe’s bill is also stubbier and thicker than other North American grebes. 

The Pied-billed is quite secretive, especially when nesting.  Its method of hiding is to submerge itself until only its head is above water.  Grebes have lobed toes, which make them strong swimmers and can be found in a variety of open water habitats including lakes, ponds, marshes and the open ocean.  The Pied-billed, as well as other grebes, dives in search of such food as aquatic invertebrates, small fish, reptiles and amphibians.

These birds will construct their nests (a floating assemblage of reeds and stiffer grasses) in May or June among emergent vegetation in freshwater marshes and ponds.  The female will lay 2-10 bluish or greenish eggs that will hatch in 3 to 3.5 weeks.  The young can often be found riding on their parents’ backs but are capable of swimming immediately after hatching.

Adults are 13.5 inches long and are generally brown in the breeding season and somewhat reddish brown in winter.  Breeding birds have a black chin and throat patch.  In winter the chin and throat turn whitish.  In all plumages the Pied-billed grebe has a cottony-white back end.  The grebes also have a thin light-colored ring around its eye giving it a somewhat wide-awake or surprised expression.

Pied-billed grebes breed throughout North America and retreat to the southern third of the continent (where water remains unfrozen) in winter.  Although their breeding range extends throughout New Jersey, due to loss of appropriate habitat over the years, the Pied-billed grebe’s breeding population has become endangered in the Garden State.  The grebes are somewhat more numerous in New Jersey during the spring and fall migrations, but are still considered uncommon at those times.

Kearny Marsh, a freshwater marsh that is considered part of the Hackensack Meadowlands, has historically been a stronghold for this species.  But even this area hosts fewer grebes than were present in the mid-1980s.  A careful observer can see Pied-billed grebes begin to appear in the area from late March to mid-April as they search for ever-dwindling wetlands to call home for the summer in order to raise a family.  Through the efforts of Hackensack Riverkeeper, such wetlands still exist in our area to provide suitable habitat for these interesting and often overlooked birds.