The White-tufted Grebe is distributed in central and southern South America from central Peru to southern Brazil. It is found in shallow water with a mixture of aquatic vegetation and open water and frequents both the coast and the Andes up to about 4500m.

They feed on fish and aquatic insects by diving from the surface as in photo 3.

According to Jobling, the scientific name comes from "Master Gunner Rolland of the French corvette L'Uranie which circumnavigated the globe 1817-1820."