Population abundance of high-Andes Flamingos preliminary results from the latest international simultaneous census, 2005 Abundancia poblacional de flamencos altoandinos resultados preliminares del ultimo censo simultaneo
Caziani, SM.; Rocha Olivio, O.; Romano, M.; Talamo, A.; Derlindati, EJ.; Ricalde, D.; Rodriguez Ramirez, E.; Sosa, H.; Sureda, AL.
Flamingo 1(4): 13-17
2006
Document Number: 341566
Of the world's six flamingo species, the rarest and least known are the James' Flamingo and the Andean Flamingo. These species inhabit only the lakes in the puna and high Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. To update information on global distribution and abundance of both species, we conducted a fifth simultaneous census during summer 2005. Of 142 wetlands surveyed, 89.7% had flamingos. Total counts were 114,317 James' Flamingos and 31,617 Andean Flamingos. James' Flamingos congregated at five lakes: Colorada, Grande, Khara Grande, Salar de Surire and Poopo. 50% of the Andean Flamingo population was on Negro Francisco, Salar de Surire, Vilama, Colorada and Salar de Atacama. The two species showed distribution patterns similar to those observed in previous summer censuses, but number of James's Flamingo was nearly double that found in earlier censuses, mostly explained by large numbers at Colorada, and by the addition of fifty new surveyed wetlands. The number of Andean Flamingos remained similar to estimates from previous summer censuses.