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The crested grebe is one of New Zealand’s rarer breeding birds; it is now confined to the South Island. In Canterbury about 50 pairs were by 1969-70 present as regular breeding birds on 23 lakes; the nesting birds are largely clustered in five groups of lakes: the Lake Sumner group with four pairs; the Lake Pearson group with seven pairs; the Lake Coleridge group with 13 pairs; the Lake Heron group with 12 pairs; and the Lake Alexandrina group with 14 pairs. There has been a decrease of 35–40 per cent from some 80 plus pairs nesting on Canterbury lakes 20–30 years ago. Most of the breeding pairs are found in lakes above 2,000 feet altitude (up to over 2,600 feet), and with two or three exceptions (small lakes at high altitudes) these lakes do not freeze over in winter and the grebes are resident all year round.