Hooded grebes in danger

From Birdwatch:

Rare grebe heading for extinction

[Monday 15 February 2010]

A recent survey in Argentina has revealed that one of the world’s rarest grebes is heading for extinction since its discovery less than 40 years ago, following dramatic declines.

The Hooded Grebe of southern Argentina and Chile is confined to relatively few breeding lakes in Argentina. In the 1980s the population was estimated at 3-5,000 adult birds. Surveys at key areas counted more than 1,800 birds in the 1980s while a 2009 survey found only 117.

Recent surveys on its coastal Patagonian wintering grounds indicate that the Endangered Hooded Grebe Podiceps gallardoi has declined by 40% in the last seven years and this, along with alarming new threats detected on its breeding grounds during 2011, indicate action is now urgently required to prevent the rapidly increasing threat of its extinction: here.