Pied-Billed Grebe is a photograph by Norman Johnson which was uploaded on May 16th, 2017.
Pied-Billed Grebe
A pied-billed grebe swims in a marshy area around Lake Apopka, Florida.... more
Title
Pied-Billed Grebe
Artist
Norman Johnson
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A pied-billed grebe swims in a marshy area around Lake Apopka, Florida.
The pied-billed grebe (podilymbus podiceps) can be found in sluggish rivers, freshwater lakes and estuaries with thick vegetation growing out of the water from upper Canada in North America down through Central America and to the tip of South America in Argentina's Patagonia region. It only migrates at night and from areas where there is no access to water because of freezing.
Feeding mainly on crustaceans like crawfish, fish, mussels, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates, the pied-billed greebe's strong bill can easily crush the hardest shell. They also eat large quantities of their own feathers, even feeding them to their young. It is believed that they do so to form a sieve like plug to strain indigestible parts from the foods they eat, that can then be regurgitated in the form of small pellets, thus protecting their intestinal linings.
They are expert divers rarely seen in flight. They would rather crash-dive than fly to avoid predators. They can alkso adjust their buoyancy by trapping water in their feathers allowing them to submerge so that only the tops of their heads and beaks are showing. You can also often find them hiding in vegetation.
Uploaded
May 16th, 2017
More from Norman Johnson
Comments (9)
Norman Johnson
I'm really glad you like it Scott. Thank you very much for the feature in the group "FAA Portraits - Birds."
Norman Johnson
I'm glad you like it, Beth. Thank you very much for the feature in the group "All Natural Beauty Of This World."
Norman Johnson
I'm glad you like it, Doug. Thank you very much for the feature in the group "Animal Photographs."
Recently Viewed
