HOODED GREBE OR BUST!

The main purpose of my visit to Patagonia in southern Argentina was to see Hooded Grebe. The medium to long-term picture for this species is bleak and that's why you simply have to see it soon.

Hooded Grebe - Strobel Plateau, 12th February 2024

It is classified as Critically Endangered by BirdLife International. And I quote: "This species's population size has declined rapidly over the past three generations and it therefore qualifies as Critically Endangered. It appears from recent counts that the population is now stable, probably as a result of extensive conservation actions. If evidence continues to show that the population remains stable, the species may be downlisted to a lower category of threat in the future."

It is an endemic breeding species to Argentina with an estimated population size of 650 - 800 mature individuals. Again I quote from BirdLife International:  "This species breeds on a few basaltic lakes in the interior of Santa Cruz, extreme south-west Argentina. The only known wintering grounds are located at the estuaries of río Coyle, río Gallegos and río Chico on the Atlantic coast of Santa Cruz (Johnson and Serret 1994, Imberti et al. 2004, Roesler et al. 2011b). It is apparently a summer visitor in the Torres del Paine National Park in Magallanes, southern Chile, but there are no confirmed breeding records for the country (Roesler et al. 2011b, S. Saiter and F. Schmitt in litt. 2013, Donoso et al. 2015, Roesler 2015)."

Now consider this......For this breeding season 2023-24 there are no confirmed successful breeding pairs! The previous season only 1 chick survived and according to the volunteers of the Hooded Grebe Project severe stormy weather destroyed the remaining nests on the Strobel Plateau. In the 2021 - 2022 breeding season only 4 chicks survived and none in 2020 - 2021 & 2019 - 2020. And only 1 chick survived in 2018 - 2019. Isn't that unbelievable?

For the full lowdown from BirdLife International follow this link: Hooded Grebe Info

 

There's also a very interesting article by BirdLife International and again follow this link to read in full:  Hooded Grebe - Dancing on the Edge

When you consider the species was only discovered on a lake near El Calafate in 1974 and there's been an 80% reduction in their numbers since then, you have to ask if there's any hope for the species. But the Hooded Grebe Project volunteers have been doing a stirling effort to help by introducing breeding platforms, guarding nests and trying to do something about the introduced Salmon, Trout and American Mink that are their main predators, along with Kelp Gulls now expanding their range. And of course the elephant in the room of climate change resulting in hotter, drier summers with more wind resulting in many favoured breeding lagoons drying out.

Everything points to the species heading to extinction but the volunteers remain committed to their cause. With the climate change threat creating drier conditions year upon year, the subsequent demise of their favoured plant to build their nests and find their favourite food within (aquatic invertebrates) is going to be the biggest challenge I think. 

So I had to go. or at least try to see them and figure out a way to help and bring more tourists/birders here and raise awareness of the species' plight. Well, it's an epic journey just to reach El Calafate, followed by a straight 6 or 7 hour drive to one of the estancias to stay overnight. Followed by a rough 2 hour drive to meet the land owner who takes you on a bone-jarring 2 hour drive over one of the roughest, rockiest roads you've ever been on to reach the lake. And then the whole journey back to El Calafate. Throw in birding stops etc and it's one hell of a ride! But absolutely worth it.

We saw 9 Hooded Grebes here....

We were lucky to see 9 Hooded Grebes amongst a flock of approximately 70 Silvery Grebes here. We were due to visit another lake but had information a few days before getting here that only two had been present and they had suddenly disappeared. So we managed to get access with a different landowner as volunteers from the Hooded Grebe Project had told the owners of the estancia about the presence of the grebes here. 

Upon arrival I wasn't optimistic about seeing them but with scopes set up from the top of the escarpment above managed t quite quickly spot one. They are bigger and much heavier than Silvery Grebes and glow really white from a distance....

Hopefully the above photos give you some idea of how much the Hoodies stand out from the Silveries...

So walking down to the lake we spotted a few more Hooded Grebes. Setting our backpacks down amongst some rocks we walked slowly closer and each time the closest pair of Hoodies dived underwater we walked quickly closer and froze when they resurfaced. By doing this we got close to the water's edge opposite where they were present and had amazing scope views. Getting decent photos was tricky with some haze, a little wind and general adrenalin pumping through my body from the excitement. Phonescoping was much more effective and I even managed to film a pair displaying...... Wow!!

And here's a few more photos...

So i'm hoping to run a trip to see them in December this year and 2025. Will post details as soon as i'm back from our Epic Cape Horn Cruise next month. 

Thanks for reading. Let's go birding!