Chilean Flamingo (Birds of Brazil)

Chilean Flamingo

Phoenicopterus chilensis

Summary ⁸

The Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is a large species of flamingo at 110–130 cm (43–51 in) closely related to Caribbean Flamingo and Greater Flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific. This article follows the treatment in Ibis (2002) 144 707-710.

Range description ⁹

Phoenicopterus chilensis breeds in central Peru (apparently erratically, irregularly and in small numbers) (M. A. Plenge in litt. 1999), Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and perhaps erratically in Paraguay (at least one breeding record, and perhaps increasing in the Chaco, with 5,200 wintering in 2005, R. P. Clay in litt. 2000, Lesterhuis et al. 2008),with a few wintering in Uruguay and south-east Brazil, and vagrants in Ecuador and the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). In the mid-1970s, the population was estimated at 500,000 birds, but more recent figures of 100,000 in Argentina, up to 30,000 in Chile, and tens of thousands in Peru and Bolivia, suggested that no more than 200,000 individuals might persist, however coordinated surveys in 2010 found 283,000 individuals and estimated the total population at 300,000 (Marconi et al. 2011). Moderately rapid population declines have been suspected but data from 2010 suggest that declines may have been less rapid than previously suspected, however further monitoring is needed to confirm this.