Day 11 of January extinct birds - the Atitlán grebe or giant pie-billed grebe (i swear i posted this yesterday but apparently not)
This flightless grebe was endemic to a single lake in Guatemala. Their story is remarkably similar to yesterday's grebe - when carnivorous bass were introduced to the lake, eating the grebe's food and their chicks, numbers started declining steeply. A refuge was set up, which was quite successful, but the 1976 earthquake caused the population to fall again, and they went extinct around 1990.
This feisty little duck has been a local on my “Blackwater Ponds” for a few years. It’s actually not a duck but a Pie-billed Grebe, which size wise is between a robin and a crow.
Pie-billed grebe passing by a muskrat. (at Mason Neck State Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNNjZM-B8_6fjzlA7aGz6AtDzjtKbKbHLTX94k0/?igshid=1ijttw3yao70m