Madagascar Grebe

About the Madagascar Grebe

The Madagascar grebe (Tachybaptus pelzelnii) is a grebe found only in western and central Madagascar. The binomial name commemorates the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln. It is classified as endangered by the IUCN, with a population of less than 5,000. It is threatened by habitat loss, predation by carnivorous fish, and competition with introduced species.

The Madagascar grebe is around 25 cm long. It can be identified in its breeding plumage, consisting of a blackish cap and line down the neck, often reddish rear ear-coverts and sides of the neck, pale grey cheeks, throat and foreneck. Some individuals have a narrow whitish line under the eye between the cap and ear-coverts.

The species is widespread throughout western and central Madagascar. Pairs can commonly be found near lakes. Surveys in the late 1990s recorded the species at 25 'Important Bird Areas' distributed throughout Madagascar, but it is suspected to be undergoing rapid declines. Numbers on Lake Alaotra have plummeted: in 1985 several hundred individuals were recorded, only 10–20 in 1993, and none in 1999. The forested lakes of the northwest plateau may harbour... Wikipedia →