Pied-billed Grebe Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: It's funny how many times I've been birding by a wetland or lake, taking photos of something else, and not notice the Pied-billed Grebe foraging right in front of me. They literally never take off and fly when you see one...instead they may just slowly sink under water and swim away, without you knowing they were ever there. They are fun birds to watch, and their young are just adorable with all the stripes. My favorite photos just has to be one with a young bird in it. The photo below is from Weisensee Slough in western Minnehaha County, from August 26th, 2018.

Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps


Pied-billed Grebe 1	Pied-billed Grebe 2	Pied-billed Grebe 3	Pied-billed Grebe 4
April 19th, 2003	June 19th, 2018	July 5th, 2003	July 5th, 2003
Madison Waterfowl Production Area, South Dakota	Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado	Lincoln County, South Dakota	Lincoln County, South Dakota
Adult breeding-plumaged bird dozing on the side of a wetland	Juvenile birds still with strong facial striping	First-year Juvenile bird in cattail wetland	First-year Juvenile bird in cattail wetland

Pied-billed Grebe 5	Pied-billed Grebe 6	Pied-billed Grebe 7	Pied-billed Grebe 8
October 15th, 2006	October 9th, 2006	September 2nd, 2007	September 2nd, 2007
Madison Waterfowl Production Area, South Dakota	Kingsbury County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Winter-plumaged bird, likely adult	Winter-plumaged bird, likely adult	First-year bird, transitioning out of young striped plumage	Winter-plumaged bird, likely adult

Pied-billed Grebe 9	Pied-billed Grebe 10	Pied-billed Grebe 11	Pied-billed Grebe 12
September 2nd, 2007	April 11th, 2009	September 2nd, 2007	August 1st, 2008
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Dewey Gevik Nature Area, South Dakota
First-year bird, transitioning out of young striped plumage	Adult bird in full spring breeding plumage	Winter plumaged bird and some duckweed	First-year juvenile shallow wetland and duckweed

Pied-billed Grebe 13	Pied-billed Grebe 14	Pied-billed Grebe 15	Pied-billed Grebe 16
April 24th, 2011	June 19th, 2018	June 19th, 2018	August 26th, 2018
Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado	Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Adult spring-plumaged bird on shallow wetland	Pair of first-year, young birds with juvenile plumage	Parent tending to very young first-year chick	Parent tending to first-year chick

Pied-billed Grebe 17	Pied-billed Grebe 18	Pied-billed Grebe 19	Pied-billed Grebe 20
August 26th, 2018	August 26th, 2018	April 8th, 2019	April 19th, 2019
Weisensee Slough, Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Weisensee Slough, Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota	Western Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Parent tending to first-year chick	First year chick still with strong facial striping	Adult plumaged bird on sunny day	Adult plumaged bird with reflection

Pied-billed Grebe 21
April 15th, 2018
Lincoln County, South Dakota
Adult bird in wonderful morning light, with reflection