Titicaca grebe (Rollandia microptera)

Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru. AUg 15, 2024

comments (3)

Thibaud Aronson

Lion

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were five species of flightless grebes. Three of them (the Atitlan Grebe in Guatamala, the Alaotra Grebe in Madagascar, and the Colombian Grebe) went extinct due to human activities (eutrophication, introduced species, drowning in fishnets, etc).
The remaining two species occur in Peru. The Junin Grebe is endemic to a large lake in the central altiplano, while the Titicaca Grebe occurs in a few lakes besides Titicaca itself, spanning the Peru-Bolivia border.
Both are endangered, due to the exact same threats, and unless things change, they likely won't live to see the end of the 21st century... Posted 11 months ago

Patomarazul

Lion

So beautiful! Posted 11 months ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  I was very lucky that the floating island I was staying on had a family of grebes living right next to it, which allowed for fantastic observations!
  See:
  https://ebird.org/checklist/S191523461 Posted 11 months ago

The Titicaca grebe

The Titicaca grebe , also known as the Titicaca flightless grebe or short-winged grebe, is a grebe found on the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia. As its name implies, its main population occurs on Lake Titicaca. Lake Uru Uru and Poopó, the Rio Desaguadero, and small lakes that connect to Lake Titicaca in wet years, serve as "spillovers" territory. In the past, the population was larger and several of these lakes – such as Lakes Umayo and Arapa – apparently had and may still have permanent large.. more

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Similar species: Grebes

Species identified by Thibaud Aronson

By Thibaud Aronson

Uploaded Sep 29, 2024. Captured Aug 15, 2024 07:10 in 52PG+PP Puno, Peru.

Explore Peru 2,049 1,732 0

Canon EOS R6
f/11.0
1/2000s
ISO1600
700mm

Captured in the winter. More winter photos.