Tachybaptus pelzelnii
Silhouette: Tisha Mukherjee · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The Madagascar grebe (Tachybaptus pelzelnii) is a grebe found only in western and central Madagascar. The binomial name commemorates the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln. It is classified as endangered by the IUCN, with a population of less than 5,000. It is threatened by habitat loss, predation by carnivorous fish, and competition with introduced species.
The Madagascar grebe is around 25 cm long. It can be identified in its breeding plumage, consisting of a blackish cap and line down the neck, often reddish rear ear-coverts and sides of the neck, pale grey cheeks, throat and foreneck. Some individuals have a narrow whitish line under the eye between the cap and ear-coverts.
The species is widespread throughout western and central Madagascar. Pairs can commonly be found near lakes. Surveys in the late 1990s recorded the species at 25 'Important Bird Areas' distributed throughout Madagascar, but it is suspected to be undergoing rapid declines. Numbers on Lake Alaotra have plummeted: in 1985 several hundred individuals were recorded, only 10–20 in 1993, and none in 1999. The forested lakes of the northwest plateau may harbour... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
No species of the same family or order lives in Ankarafantsika National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Grebe sighting in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 75th most-seen of the 83 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Grebe in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June–September and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Ankarafantsika National Park's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain against 560 mm in January. January–March and May have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Madagascar Grebe sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Madagascar Grebe sightings, Ankarafantsika National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Mantadia National Park (Madagascar, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Madagascar Grebe is recorded against all the birds logged in Ankarafantsika National Park (10 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
