Hard Worker
This Pied-billed Grebe is a hard worker. It swam the whole length of the north shore of the park, as I watched, and rarely spent more than ten seconds on the surface. Many diving birds are a challenge for the photographer. You just located them, framed the shot, and got it in focus, and they dive. This little grebe excelled at that game. Nevertheless, I managed to squeeze out a few seconds of video here and there.
The Pied-billed Grebe is a small but very strong and talented bird. As I’ve noted here on a previous encounter, it has a beak like a vise-grip, and can easily crush crabs or mussels. It also has exceptional control over its buoyancy, and can swim underwater with just the top of its head showing, like a submarine on periscope.
This one lacks the black ring around the beak that they get when in breeding mode.
