• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	D1
2015	Near Threatened	D1
2012	Vulnerable	C2a(i)
2008	Vulnerable	C2a(i)
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1996	Endangered
1994	Endangered
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	249 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	260,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	1000-5000, 2000-4000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2021
Population trend	increasing	poor	suspected	2016-2030
Generation length	4.8 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The species was previously estimated to number 1,900-2,000 birds with c.200 in Northland, c.700 in the Volcanic Plateau, c.400 in the Hawkes Bay, c.150 in Wairarapa and c.400 in Manawatu (Heather and Robertson 1997). More than 750 were counted at Rotorua lakes alone in 2018 (J. Innes in lit. 2022). The population trend was believed to be stable in 2008 and 2012 (Miskelly et al. 2008, Robertson et al. 2013) and to be increasing at a rate of more than 10% over three generations in 2016 and 2021 (Robertson et al. 2017, 2021). For this reason, the population size is now thought to be higher than that estimated in 1997. The estimation of 1,000-5,000 mature individuals made by Robertson et al. (2017, 2021) is therefore followed here, but with a best guess of 2,000-4,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population was formerly precautionarily suspected to be in decline owing primarily to habitat loss and modification and the impacts of human disturbance and introduced predators, however the species appears to be now stable or increasing (Robertson et al. 2017, 2021); for example, it has recently recolonised Southland (Petyt 2013, eBird 2021) and the population in the Rotorua Lakes area (a significant portion of the global population) has been increasing steadily with 364 individuals in 1985, 572 in 2011 (Sachtleben et al. 2014) and 757 in 2018 (J. Innes in litt. 2022).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
New Zealand	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
New Zealand	Rotorua Sulphur Point
New Zealand	Wairarapa Moana Ruamahanga

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 800 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Marine & freshwater aquaculture - Scale Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela erminea	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela furo	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela nivalis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Named species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Tachybaptus novaehollandiae	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Competition
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Trichosurus vulpecula	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: New Zealand Grebe Poliocephalus rufopectus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/new-zealand-grebe-poliocephalus-rufopectus on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.