The Colombian grebe (''Podiceps andinus'') was a

grebe Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes (). Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Most grebes f ...

found in the Bogotá wetlands on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a savanna#Savanna ecoregions, montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is si ...

in the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The species was still abundant in

Lake Tota Lake Tota () is the largest lake in Colombia, located in the east of Boyacá department, inside the Sugamuxi Province, it is the source of the Upia River which flows into the Orinoco River basin. The major town on the lake is Aquitania, locate ...

in 1945. The species has often been considered a subspecies of

black-necked grebe The black-necked grebe or eared grebe (''Podiceps nigricollis'') is a member of the grebe family (biology), family of water birds. It was described in 1831 by Christian Ludwig Brehm. Its breeding plumage features distinctive ochre-coloured feat ...

(''P. nigricollis''), and is genetically nested within it; it differed from black-necked grebe most notably in having a reddish-brown (not black) foreneck, and more orangey-toned (rather than yellow) ear tufts. It was

flightless Flightless birds are birds that cannot fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites ( ostriches, emus, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwis) and penguins. The smal ...

. The decline of the Colombian grebe is attributed to wetland drainage,

siltation Siltation is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary o ...

pesticide pollution The environmental effects of pesticides describe the broad series of consequences of using pesticides. The unintended consequences of pesticides is one of the main drivers of Environmental impact of agriculture, the negative impact of modern ind ...

, disruption by reed harvesting, hunting, competition, and predation of chicks by invasive introduced

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss''). The primary reason was

loss of habitat Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

: drainage of wetlands and siltation resulted in higher concentrations of pollutants, causing

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

across

. This destroyed the open, submergent

pondweed Pondweed refers to many species and genera of aquatic plants and green algae: *''Potamogeton'', a diverse and worldwide genus *''Elodea'', found in North America *''Aponogeton'', in Africa, Asia and Australasia *''Groenlandia'', a genus of aquatic ...

(''

Potamogeton ''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis' ...

'') vegetation and resulted in the formation of a dense

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monocultures increase ease and efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting crops short-term, often with the help of machinery. However, monocultur ...

of water weed (''

Elodea ''Elodea'' is a genus of eight species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog's-bit family ( Hydrocharitaceae), ''Elodea'' is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium v ...

'').Varty et al. 1986, Fjeldsa 1993, as cited in O'Donnel and Fjeldsa 1997 By 1968, the species had declined to approximately 300 birds. Only two records of this bird were made in the 1970s; one seen 1972, and the last confirmed record from 1977 when three birds were seen. Intensive studies in 1981 and 1982 failed to find the species and it is now considered extinct.El Pato Zambullidor extinto de Colombia
/ref>

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
Podiceps Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1959 Taxa named by Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee Extinct birds of South America Altiplano Cundiboyacense Species made extinct by human activities {{Podicipediformes-stub