GREBES IN MY BACKYARD

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman

GREBES IN MY BACKYARD


There’s Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, and Daisy Duck, all famous cartoon characters. Enter now, “Diving Duck,” also known as a “Grebe”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied-billed_Grebe

On television, I have thrilled in watching diving birds in nature shows. I had also seen them online. But, until I personally observed a diving duck, one cold morning in March, in our neighborhood lake, behind my back yard, I hadn’t given them much thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_duck

Why had not noticed this before, I wondered. Northern geese and Mallard ducks are year-round features. Where had this unusual diving fowl been? I decided to investigate this bird one day.

Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae


Pied-billed Grebe

Grebes are small to medium-large sized freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes, and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land. There are 20 species world-wide, 7 North American species, and 6 Missouri species.

• Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps
• Horned Grebe, Podiceps auritus
• Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena
• Eared Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis
• Western Grebe, Aechmorphorus occidentalis
• Clark's Grebe, Aechmorphorus clarkii

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Missouri#Grebes

The Pied-billed Grebe is small, stocky, and short-necked. It is 31–38 cm (12–15") in length, it has a wingspan of 45–62 cm (18–24") and weighs 253–568 g (8.93–20.05 ounces).[1] It is usually brown or gray in color. It has a short, blunt chicken-like bill, which in summer is encircled by a broad black band (hence the name). It is the only grebe that does not show a white wing patch in flight.

The sexes in grebes are monomorphic (meaning no sexual dimorphism). In other words, the males and females look just alike.

There are also some “Eared Grebes” in our lake. They are very dark with gold ear tufts, a bright red eye and a white under-belly.

Unlike Cormorants which also dive to catch fish, but which are prevented from swallowing them by a neck band, which its fisherman-master prudently snaps around its long neck, nothing constrains these Missouri Grebes, from gorging themselves on aquatic invertebrates, and also on small fish and amphibians (frogs, tadpoles). Pied-billed and Eared Grebes also eat their own feathers to aid in digestion (prevent injury from small bones).

The Pied Bill Grebe is the most widespread of North American grebes, it is found on many open waters, such as remote ponds, marshes, and sluggish streams. It is usually the first grebe to arrive on northern inland waters in springtime, and the last to leave in autumn. It is rare on salt water.

This grebe is usually silent, except in breeding season when the male voices a loud, laughing cuck, cuck, cuck or cow, cow, cow. It rarely flies, preferring to escape danger by diving.

Folk names of this grebe include dabchick, devil-diver, dive-dapper, hell-diver, and water witch.

During diving, the young clamp their bills over their parents' feathers. Riding on the backs of their parents serves a twofold purpose for eared grebe chicks. Besides protecting them from predators, the position allows them an easy way to eat some of the parent's feathers. This is done because the gizzard in fish-eaters doesn't sufficiently crush bones as they're swallowed. The parental feathers in the stomach, which are formed into balls, protect the thin stomach wall from being punctured by sharp bones. They also slow digestive process, so bones dissolve rather than pass into the intestine.

http://www.apogeephoto.com/oct2001/along102001.shtml

On occasion, I’ve observed all three aquatic birds in or near the lake at the same time. Each sticks to its own kind, and its own forage. Our northern geese eat what’s on the ground. The ducks eat what’s on top of the water and the grebes eat what’s under the water. Thereby, everybody’s happy. And so is this interested observer.