Art by Barry Kent MacKay
An All-Creatures.org
Art and Photo Presentation

(Artwork - 080)
Hooded Grebe
(Podiceps gallardoi)

This is a vignette, done in mixed media…gouache watercolour and acrylics on gesso-board.
 
It is meant for the cover of a book to be published on relatively newly discovered species of birds.  The publishers and author of the book wanted me to show a breeding display, in a vignette painting.
 
The Hooded Grebe was discovered by science in 1974.  It is found only on a few lakes in the mountains in southern South America, where it is endangered, and in serious decline.  It nests in basaltic lakes in the arid steppes, some 500, to 1,200 meters above sea level.
 
One estimate is that the population declined over 72 percent over 21 years, a very rapid decline, and in 2011 it was estimated to have a wintering population of less than 800 individuals.  During the winter counts that winter no juvenile grebes were seen.
 
The introduction of predatory American Mink, plus the introduction of non-native Salmonids (salmon and trout) into some lakes have had a negative effect on the bird and its food supply.  Chicks are mostly fed water beetles.  Excessive sheep grazing and run-off, and dramatic changes in climate have also been cited as contributing to its decline.
 
Local authorities are working hard to remove the mink and salmon and to take other measures to help protect this beautiful little grebe, very unlike any other species.  Argentinians are justifiably proud of the Hooded Grebe.

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