When the fame fades

Two years ago, the Australasian crested grebe, the pÅ«teketeke, took out the title of New Zealand’s Bird of the Century. But when the billboard on the Champs-Elysse got swapped out, and the clips of John Oliver dressed in a grebe costume dropped off the YouTube algorithm, who stuck around? Claire Concannon meets two dedicated grebe supporters battling different challenges at Lake Hayes and Lake WÄnaka.