Photos of Pied-billed Grebes, some taken recently in North Dakota

"Part bird, part submarine, the Pied-billed Grebe is common across much of North America." This is the first sentence in the CornellLab All About Birds overview of Pied-billed Grebe. In this blog post, I show photos that illustrate a few other statements selected from All About Birds description of the bird and its behavior.


“Like other grebes, the Pied-billed Grebe creates an open bowl nest on a platform of floating vegetation. “

Olympus E-M1X camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC + 1.4x tc (263mm)
1/2500 sec at f/8, ISO 1600
July 2, 2021, North Dakota


“Like other grebes, the Pied-billed Grebe creates an open bowl nest on a platform of floating vegetation. “

Olympus OM-1 camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC lens (375mm)
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400
June 15, 2024, North Dakota


“The Latin genus name for grebe, "podylimbus," means “feet at the buttocks”—an apt descriptor for these birds, whose feet are indeed located near their rear ends.”

Olympus OM-1 camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC lens (500mm)
1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 2000
November 23, 2022, St. Marks NWR, FL


“They use their chunky bills to kill and eat large crustaceans along with a great variety of fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates.”

Olympus E-M1X camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC (406mm)
1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1000
November 06, 2021, Anahuac NWR, TX


“Juveniles have striped faces.”

Nikon D4 camera with 500mm f/4 lens + 2x teleconverter (1000mm)
1/1600 sec at f/9, ISO 1000
October 01, 2014, Anahuac NWR, TX


“Juveniles accompany adults for several weeks.”

Olympus OM-1 camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC lens (459mm)
1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800
June 15, 2024, North Dakota


“Juveniles accompany adults for several weeks.”

Olympus OM-1 camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC lens (459mm)
1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800
June 15, 2024, North Dakota


“Juveniles accompany adults for several weeks.”

Olympus OM-1 camera with M.150-400mm F4.5 TC lens (406mm)
1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800
June 15, 2024, North Dakota


David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.