Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps Linnaeus       Field Guide IDs: NG-24; G-20; PE-34; PW-pl 1; AE-pl 180; AW-pl 176; AM (I)-40 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy F-M I: 23 DAYS PRECOCIAL 4 MF 5-7 (3-10) MONOG? F: ? DAYS MF FISH BREEDING: Usu well-vegetated lakes, ponds, sluggish streams and marshes. 1 brood, 2 in s. DISPLAYS: Courtship more vocal than visual; male-female duet call. In territorial display at border, males turn away from each other and call, heads held high, bills up, then swing back face to face. NEST: Inconspicuous, shallow sodden platform of decaying veg anchored in open water among reeds or rushes. Of reeds, grass, often plastered with soft green scum. EGGS: Bluish-white, chalky, nest-stained buff/brown. 1.7" (43 mm). DIET: Aquatic insects, also snails, fish, frogs; incidental aquatic veg. Feather balls found in stomach. In winter occ forage in salt water. CONSERVATION: Winters s to Panama; s populations sedentary. Adaptable, found in developed areas. NOTES: Most solitary of all N.A. grebes. For proper development, eggs must lose water but this is a problem in hot, wet nest; facilitated by having 3 x more pores for water diffusion, compared with similar eggs of other species. Young carried on back of adult, occ even during dives. Sinks to hide, leaving only head exposed. STANFORD. NOTES: Regular in small numbers at Lagunita, usually in winter but occasionally remaining, possibly to breed, in spring. ESSAYS: Eating Feathers; Transporting Young; Plume Trade; Swimming; Precocial and Altricial Young. REFERENCES: Davis et al., 1984; Godfrey, 1986.