The population of three species of flamingoes from the lakes of Poopo, Uru Uru and Oruro - Bolivia Poblacion de tres especies de flamencos en los lagos Poopo y Uru Uru, Oruro- Bolivia
Rocha, O., O.; Quiroga, O., C.; Martinez, O.
Flamingo Specialist Group Newsletter 11: 24-26
2003
Document Number: 372744
Lakes Poopo and Uru Uru together represent one of the most important areas for the 3 species of South American flamingo wintering (May-Aug) in the Bolivian Altiplano and in the whole of the Andes. These lakes lie at an altitude of 3686 m asl and cover an area of 3084 km2, the extent of water depending on rainfall (Dec-March). Water depth varies between 50 cm and 2 m, and salinity is high (250 g/l). Flamingo censuses from the past have revealed the following maximum figures: Chilean: 100,000 (Jan 1972), 75,000 (Feb.1973) and 66,000 (Feb.1975) on L. Poopo. Andean: 18,000 (Dec.1972) on Uru Uru. More recently (1999, 2001) seven censuses have been carried out and these revealed a total of 125,580 flamingos of all 3 species, of which 69% were Chilean (=86,650), 19% 26 Andean (=23,860) and 12% James's (=15,069). In July 1997 and 1999 aerial censuses were made of these lakes and these revealed totals of 120,000 and 75,000 flamingos respectively.