The Pied-Billed Grebe is a duck-sized aquatic bird (Family: Podicipedidae, Order: Podicipediformes). The grebe has a brown body, white eye-rings, and a white beak with a black band. The wings of the grebe are short, and the white feathers are exposed underneath. The way which the feathers stand up from the body is characteristic to Podicipedidae (grebes).
The photo shows the grebe standing up above the water and then flapping the wings several times above the water.
Colusa, CA 2008-02-09
The grebes are good divers and bad fliers, and are most likely found in water.