Grebes of our World

André Konter was born in Luxembourg. As an ornithologist with a passion for grebes and their conservation, he has travelled the five continents with the aim of observing and photographing all of the grebe species still in existence. This book tells the story of how his keen interest in these birds developed upon seeing a pair of Great Crested Grebes in a lake near his home in the early 90’s and includes accounts of his observations. These include the time he discovered a colony of over 100 Hooded Grebe nests in the remote Argentine Patagonia, the experience of seeing one of the few remaining Madagascar Grebes (a threatened species which is endemic to Madagascar), the time he sighted the New Zealand Grebe (which can only be found on North Island, New Zealand), and his observations of the last remaining, critically threatened Junin Flightless Grebes. Also included are black and white illustrations of all of the species by Michael Braum, as well as 85 photos of 19 of the 22 species that still exist, 76 which were taken by the author and are being published here for the first time.

The main objective of this book is to contribute to the conservation of grebes by donating the majority of the proceeds to renowned specialist John Fjeldså, Director of the Natural History Museum of Copenhagen, for grebe research and conservation projects.