CLIPBOARD : BREEDING BIRDS : PIED-BILLED GREBE (Podilymbus podiceps)

Description: Brown overall, pale below, with short neck and big head. Black chin and throat contrast with white chicken-like bill with black ring. During winter the ringed bill and black throat disappear. Juveniles have striped brown neck. Length: 13-14 inches.

Habitat: Wetlands, ponds, marshes and sluggish streams.

Diet: Aquatic insects, brine, tadpoles and fish. Feather balls found in stomach.

Displays: Male-female duet call during courtship; in territorial displays, males turn from each other and call out. Then, holding their heads high, they spin back face to face.

Nest: Platform of decaying vegetation in open water among tules and reeds.

Eggs: Chalky, bluish-white, stained brown from nest. Slightly more than inch and a half long.

Call: Kuk-kuk-cow-cow-cow-cowp-cowp ; low , gentle whinnying.

Notes: Underwater flier although an apparent clumsy mid-air aviator; to hide, deflates air sac to sink body below water level leaving only head exposed; carries, and often dives with young on back; swallows its feathers to facilitate fish-bone crushing in gizzard.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Sources: Sea and Sage Audubon Society; “The Birder’s Handbook,” Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).