Bird of the Month Series

Bird of the Month

Photo by Liz Ramsey Photography

June 2025

Pied-billed Grebe

Our June bird of the month is the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). Pied-billed Grebes are common across much of North America. These expert divers inhabit sluggish rivers, freshwater marshes, lakes, and estuaries. Their unusually thick bills turn silver and black in summer, hence the name “pied-billed”, and are used to kill and eat large crustaceans along with fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates.

Pied-billed Grebes are fairly poor fliers and typically stay on the water, often hidden amid vegetation. They can trap water in their feathers, giving them great control over their buoyancy, allowing them to sink deeply or stay just at or below the surface, exposing as much or as little of the body as they wish. Like other grebes, they eat large quantities of their own feathers and sometimes feed them to newly hatched chicks. The ingested plumage prevents harmful prey parts from passing into the intestine and helps form food into pellets, which they can regurgitate.

Learn more about the Pied-billed Grebe at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pied-billed_Grebe

View our previous birds of the month on Facebook or Instagram!

May 2025: Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Learn more about the Song Sparrow at allaboutbirds.org/guide/song_sparrow

April 2025: American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Bittern

March 2025: Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna).
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird

February 2025: Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk

January 2025: Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Goldeneye

December 2024: Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle

November 2024: Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose

October 2024: Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ferruginous_Hawk

September 2024: Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Towhee

August 2024: Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Tanager

July 2024: Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser

June 2024: Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cliff_Swallow

May 2024: Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-breasted_Chat

April 2024: Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey

March 2024: Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura).
Learn more at allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture