Andean flamingo

Appearance

It is distinguished from other flamingos by its deeper lower mandible and the very long filtering filaments on the maxilla. It is the largest flamingo in the Andes and is one of the two heaviest living flamingos alongside the taller greater flamingo. Reportedly body mass of the Andean flamingo has ranged from 1.5 to 4.9 kg, height from 1 to 1.4 m and wingspan from 1.4 to 1.6 m.

The flamingo has a pale pink body with brighter upperparts, deep vinaceous-pink lower neck, breast, and wing coverts. It is the only flamingo species with yellow legs and three-toed feet. Its bill is pale yellow near the skull, but black for the majority of its length, and curves downward. Its lower mandible is less apparent than those of the genus "Phoenicopterus."

Status

The Andean flamingo is considered a vulnerable species due to the mining business and human disturbances causing changes in its habitat.According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the Andean flamingo is an "insufficiently known species." Thus, despite being negatively affected for at least the previous two decades, it was finally declared endangered in September 2010. In this announcement, it was stated that this flamingo would be protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Most of the areas in which the flamingos reside, both in the summer and the winter, have been covered by the implementation of national parks. However, these parks are absent in habitats incurring changes. Thus, the main breeding grounds are still susceptible to outside disturbances that decrease the population of the flamingos. Because the Andean flamingo is a recent addition to the endangered species list, few plans have been implemented to protect their species. However, the National Institution of Natural Resources is currently developing a plan. This group is working with conservationists to find a way to solve the problems of borate extraction and egg collecting and poaching. The plan consists of an environmental education strategy to inform businessmen, workers, villagers, and any other people who pose as a threat to the flamingos. Local authorities in the Salinas Lake district have created an outpost to prevent illicit actions and to find possible solutions to present problems. Creation of national parks has decreased the egg collecting; however, environmental education will be necessary to eliminate this activity.

The Flamingo Specialist Group, established in 1971, is actively trying to inform the public on the vulnerability of flamingos. They produce an annual newsletter to tell readers the current status of several species. In 2000, this group conducted a census that revealed a total population less than 34,000 Andean flamingos, giving them the label of most rare species. Recently, this group has joined sides with the International Union for Conservation of Nature to create an action plan for the flamingos. A meeting was held in Miami, Florida, in 2000 to develop a group to control an action place to protect the six species and subspecies of flamingos.

Under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Bonn Convention, the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of High Andean Flamingos and their Habitats was concluded and came into effect on 4 December 2008. The MoU covers Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. As of August 2012, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru have signed the MoU. The MoU aims to improve the conservation status of the species and their habitats through coordinated and concerted actions across the range.

Habitat

This Andean flamingo is native to the wetlands of the high Andes mountain range from southern Peru to northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. Andean flamingos are migratory, with the ability to travel up to 700 miles in one day. In the summer, they live in salt lakes, and migrate to the lower wetlands for the winter. The cause of this migration from summer to winter is possibly due to the extreme aridity of salt flats during the winter. The path of migration is unknown, but it is thought to occur between the Chilean breeding grounds and the wetlands of central and western Argentina.

Breeding is concentrated in northern Chile, extreme southwestern Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina. During the nonbreeding season, some birds remain around the same wetlands where they bred, but others move to lower elevation wetlands and lakes, including east to the central plains of Argentina, and also north through the Andes to southern Peru.

Vagrant as far north as Conococha in central Peru, to the coast of Peru and northern Chile, to Amazonian Brazil, to southern Argentina, and to coastal southern Brazil.

Food

These flamingos are filter feeders and their diet ranges over the entire spectrum of available foods, from fish to invertebrates, from vascular plants to microscopic algae.

The flamingos feed from the bottom layer of the lake for small particles, mainly diatoms. They have a deep-keeled bill; the upper mandible is narrower than the lower, creating a gape on the dorsal surface of the bill. The bill morphology facilitates feeding of diatoms through inertial impaction. This mechanism entails that food particles denser than water, such as diatoms, would impact the filtering surface in the bill, causing water to flow out of the mouth and leaving diatoms in the flamingo's bill. The flamingos forage in shallow salty waters for resources. They exhibit the most flexible foraging pattern compared to that of the Chilean and James's flamingos.

When grouping the Andean flamingos with Chilean flamingos or James's flamingos, Andean flamingos adopt the foraging patterns of the species with which it is grouped. Thus, when grouped with Chilean flamingos, they use a moderate and deep foraging depth strategy more than or the same as expected. If they are grouped with James's flamingos, they adopt the edge and the shallow foraging strategy. However, the overall foraging behavior of Andean flamingos remains unclear.

Evolution

Fossils attributed to Andean Flamingo have been found at the Salar de Atacama border and roughly date to the Early Formative period, approximately 3,000 to 2,200 BP. These fossils date to a period consistent with the onset of modern climate conditions that the species now inhabits.