Andean divers
| Andean divers | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Podiceps andinus | ||||||||||
| ( Meyer de Schauensee , 1959) |
The Andean diver ( Podiceps andinus ) is an extinct species of grebes . This bird was once common in an extremely small area in Colombia , but has not been seen alive since 1977.
The Andean diver showed a strong resemblance to a black-necked grebe , but in contrast to this, had a chestnut brown fore-neck. According to some ornithologists, it was just a subspecies of the black-necked grebe.
The distribution area of the Andean diver only included the Colombian provinces Boyacá and Cundinamarca . Its breeding areas were the wetlands around the capital Bogotá and the banks of the Laguna de Tota (Lake Tota). The swamps were largely drained during the 20th century, and the remaining wetlands were so far contaminated by sewage and rubbish that the populations of the Andean diver collapsed in the 1950s. Individual animals lived until the 1970s. The last Andenta diver was seen on Lake Tota in 1977. An intensive search for the species was fruitless in 1981/82.
literature
- Jon Fjeldså: The Grebes . Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-850064-5
Web links
- Podiceps andinus in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 20 of 2008.