The Story
This is a Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) that I photographed at the Malecón Cameguadua in Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia on June 23, 2017. It has no webbed feet, but lobes on each toe help it paddle. It is the only living member of its genus. It is a small, stocky, short-necked grebe, mostly brown, which helps it blend into the marshes where it lives. The reservoir sits at about 1,370 meters and has two lakes, with the tourist boardwalk, the malecón, on the northern one.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/2000 sec, f/8, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Pied-billed Grebe as Least Concern with an increasing population, and Chinchiná is part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) belongs to the family Podicipedidae (Grebes) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List