Podiceps gallardoi breeds on a few basaltic lakes in the interior of Santa Cruz, extreme south-west Argentina, and casually near Torres del Paine, in Magallanes, south Chile⁵; the only known wintering grounds are the río Coyle and río Gallegos estuaries on the Atlantic coast of Santa Cruz^2,8. The total population was estimated at 3,000-5,000 individuals in 1997 with half of these on Meseta de Strobel⁵. Counts on the wintering grounds suggested a decline of 40% over a seven year period⁷, and surveys conducted in December 2006 and January 2009 that revisited key known breeding sites surveyed in 1987 (Lagunas del Sello, del Isolte and Tolderia Grande) and 1998 (Encadenadas) also found sharp declines; numbers fell from 452 to 51 at Laguna del Sello, from 700 to 0 at Laguna del Islote, from 90 to 0 at Tolderia Grande⁹ and from 198 to 0 at Lagunas Encadenadas¹⁰. While there is speculation that numbers fluctuate dramatically at breeding sites from year to year driven by movements rather than actual population fluctuations³, overall declines detected on the wintering and breeding grounds appear to be real and rapid. Examination of photographs from the 1980s suggests that P. gallardoi was formerly the commonest waterbird on its core breeding grounds, the Buenos Aires, Strobel and San Martin plateaus; the 2009 surveys visited two of these areas and recorded the declines above as well as noting that a number of former breeding sites were completely dry. The global population is now suspected to number well below 2,500 mature individuals.