Pied-billed Grebes at Ridgefield

Pied-billed grebes are common at the refuge. They don’t exist in large numbers like some of the other waterfowl, but there are several spots where you might see one up close along the auto tour route at the River S Unit.

Pied-billed grebe with a fish in its mouth

Three Eyes

This is one of a pair of grebes that were fishing a narrow channel on the auto tour route. This was the larger of the two and the one catching the most fish. They would frequently vocalize to each other and given that this was taken in April, I suspect that the two grebes were a-courtin’.

There are three eyes visible in this picture, the large eye of the grebe and the two eyes of the fish in its beak. The grebe caught a number of fish but for whatever reason it always ate them with its back to me. This one time, however, it momentarily held the fish where I could see it before quickly turning away and swallowing it out of sight.

Pied-billed grebe with a bullfrog in its mouth

Invasive Species Removal

This grebe was doing a little invasive species removal on a rainy spring day. I was driving on the back half of the auto tour loop when I saw this grebe swimming up ahead with something in its mouth. I couldn’t recognize what it was from that distance, but assumed it must be a juvenile bird of some kind. When I got up close, I saw that it was not a bird but a frog, a large species that is not native to Washington.

Down the Hatch

In this picture, the grebe attempts to swallow the large frog by flipping it up and letting gravity aid the frogs entry down the grebe’s extended throat. It wasn’t successful on this attempt, but it did manage to swallow it a short while later. A much larger meal than the small fish the grebes often catch, I didn’t think there was any way it could down the frog, but soon there was only a webbed foot sticking out of the grebe’s bill. There’s definitely a little motion blur. I’ve never seen a grebes neck extended like this, I didn’t know they could stretch out that far.

Pied-billed grebe with a frog's foot sticking out of its mouth

If I Sound Hoarse …

… it's because I have a frog in my throat. (rimshot)

Proof that the grebe eventually managed to swallow the frog, with only a webbed foot still sticking out. After swallowing even the foot, the grebe swam over to the other side of the channel and sat still for quite some time. I suppose that’s the grebe equivalent of unbuttoning your pants after a Thanksgiving feast.

It was still sitting there when I left.