This story represents one episode from the four years my wife, Paula, and I spent traveling in South America, making films on a pro bono basis for cash-strapped bird conservation non-governmental organizations.
The most important bird protection group in South America and the BirdLife International partner in Argentina is Aves Argentinas. We had been asked by its director, Hernan Casañas, if we would make a film about the rare and iconic Hooded Grebe. One other film about the species had been created years before, but the courtship display, reputed to be incredible and seen by few people, never had been filmed in its entirety.
The critically endangered bird is found in scattered locations throughout Patagonia, and Aves Argentinas has had a project led by professional biologists, supported by volunteers, working to protect the species for several years. The main reasons for the bird’s decline are predation of adults and young by two introduced species, American mink and American trout, further predation by native Kelp Gulls, and climate change.
We reached Patagonia after a long five-day drive from Buenos Aires in September, the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. We passed more giraffe-necked Lesser Rhea than people, and as the days passed, we were inexorably drawn toward the vertebrae of jagged Andean peaks. Patagonia is hypnotic, wide skies over unending plains of dry leathery yellow scrub intersected with ravines of rainbow rock. The current population of Hooded Grebes is estimated at 800. We had seen bigger flocks of European (Common) Starlings in our hometown! Was it
