I first met the pied-billed grebe not far from my doorstep, up at the dam on the Pigeon River in Omemee.

It was a bit of an oddball situation because this happened in midst of winter when the pied-billed grebe should not have been there. It should have migrated in the fall and been down south soaking up sunshine and catching fish in a nice warm pond. Instead it was hanging around in our frigid water with three or four Canada geese that could not fly south because they had been injured during the fall goose hunt.

The pied-billed grebe has the ability to sink and rise in the water like a submarine.

There is a half a kilometre or so stretch of water below the dam that stays open most of the winter so these birds could feed and survive in this habitat. The tiny grebe blended itself right in with the geese. It was capitalizing on the........

© Peterborough Examiner