Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Hooded grebe
about700
Estimate, no range
2025
Podiceps gallardoi
Argentina, basalt plateau lakes of western Santa Cruz (breeding); Atlantic estuaries (winter)
Stated in 2025 by Roesler and others in Bird Conservation International; no census year is given.
The latest number for the hooded grebe is about 700 adults, an estimate with no range, dated 2025 and published by Roesler and others in Bird Conservation International.
Roesler and others put the whole wild population at about 700 adults, under pressure from introduced mink and trout.
How it was counted
The figure is an estimate of adult grebes across the whole wild population, given in animals and not in pairs, nests or area. Roesler and others publish it without a range, so it reads as about 700, not exactly 700.
This is an estimate published without a range, so it reads as about 700 adults, not as an exact count.
What moves it
Roesler and others name these pressures on the number: introduced American mink and rainbow trout, kelp gulls, the changing climate, and planned wind farms and hydropower dams, which the paper expects to affect the places where the birds spend the winter.
- American mink. Source: Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142.
- introduced rainbow trout. Source: Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142.
- kelp gulls. Source: Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142.
- planned hydroelectric dams and wind farms that will affect its wintering grounds. Source: Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142.
- climate change. Source: Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142.
The next count
No date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Roesler et al. 2025, Bird Conservation International 35, e29, doi:10.1017/S0959270925100142 Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): About 700 (Estimate, no range, 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.