Watery Wednesday: Pied-billed Grebe

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a regional Mexican holiday which celebrates a victory that the Mexican army had over the French on May 5th 1862. Even though Minnesota is pretty far from Mexico we have a significant Mexican American population here that celebrates Cinco de Mayo. One immigrant that I frequently see during the summer that is known to possibly spend some time in Mexico is the pied-billed grebe.

Pied-billed grebes spend most of their lives on or under the water. They find food by diving under the water to catch fish, aquatic insects and crustaceans. When a predator is around the pied-billed grebe will usually choose to dive under the water rather then fly away to escape the predator.

Although pied-billed grebes look a lot like ducks they do not have webbed feet like ducks do. Instead they have lobes on each of their toes which give them extra surface area to paddle and move through the water.