The Andean Flamingo Phoenicoparrus andinus (Philippi, 1854) in southern Brazil: is it a vagrant?

Ivo Rohling Ghizoni-Jr.1 and Vítor de Q. Piacentini2

1 CaiporaCooperativaparaConservaçãodaNatureza.AvenidaDesembargadorVitorLima,260/513,Carvoeira,CEP 88040‑400,Florianópolis,SC,Brasil.E‑mail: ivoghizoni@yahoo.com.br.

2 Pós‑graduaçãoemZoologia,InstitutodeBiociências,UniversidadedeSãoPaulo.RuadoMatão,Travessa14,101,CEP 05508‑090,SãoPaulo,SP,Brasil;eComitêBrasileirodeRegistrosOrnitológico.E‑mail: vitor.piacentini@gmail.com.

Recebidoem:22/06/2010.Aceitoem:10/08/2010.

Resumo: o flamingo-grande-dos-andes Phoenicoparrus andinus (Philippi, 1854) em santa Catarina, sul do Brasil: uma espécie vagante?Oflamingo‑grande‑dos‑andes,Phoenicoparrusandinus,éconsideradovagantenoBrasil,havendoescassosregistrosnosestadosdoRioGrandedoSuleSantaCatarina.NovosregistrosdessaespéciesãoaquiapresentadosparaduaslocalidadesnolitoraldeSantaCatarina:aLagoadoCamacho(28°37’S,48°52’W)eapraiadoCantodosGanchos,GovernadorCelsoRamos(27°18’S,48°35’W).Nestaúltimalocalidadeumapequenapopulaçãofoiencontradaeacompanhadaaolongode27meses(junhode2008aagostode2010).Nosmesesdejulhode2008ejaneirode2009nãoforamregistradosnaquelapraia,enosoutrosmesesentre2e32indivíduosforamobservados,tantoemposiçãodedescansocomoforrageando.EssesregistroscorroboraminformaçõesdepescadoressobreaapariçãodeflamingosnoEstado.Alémdessesregistros,outrostrêsavistamentosdeflamingosnãoidentificadossãoaquireportados.Nossosdadossugeremqueoflamingo‑grande‑dos‑andestalvezsejaumvisitantedeinvernoregularoumesmoresidentenoBrasil.

PAlAVRAs-ChAVe:flamingo‑grande‑dos‑andes,Phoenicoparrus andinus,SantaCatarina.

Key-WoRds:AndeanFlamingo,Phoenicoparrus andinus,SantaCatarina.

The Andean Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus) isnormally found in salt lakes of the Andean Altiplano,from3500‑4500 maltitudeinChile,Argentina,BoliviaandPeru(delHoyo1992,IUCN2010).InBrazil,itisrarely seen in the southandconsideredavagrant (Sick1997,CBRO2009).Itisgloballyclassifiedasvulnerableto extinction due to recent population decline (IUCN2010).

TheAndeanFlamingowasfirstreportedinSantaCatarina (SC) and Brazil by Bege and Pauli (1990),whodescribed adead juvenile bird found in1989 inErval Velho and which had been recently banded inChile (Rosário, 1996). The next record was that ofBornscheinandReinert (1996),whocorrectedamis‑identifiedspecimenthatwascollectedin1952inJara‑guádoSulandhousedintheCoraçãodeJesusSemi‑nary Museum, in Corupá, Santa Catarina.Thus, thisbecametheearliestrecordforthestate.ThatspecimenhadbeenidentifiedbySicket al.(1981)astheChileanFlamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis), by that time con‑sideredasubspeciesof theAmericanFlamingo(P. ru-ber;BornscheinandReinert1996,Rosário1996).Ad‑ditionally, theAndeanFlamingowas reportedat leastonceinthemoresouthernstateofRioGrandedoSul(Bencke2001).

Here,wedescribenewsightingsandbehavioralob‑servations of the Andean Flamingo in two locations inthesouthernBrazilianstateofSantaCatarina.

meThods

ThisstudywascarriedoutatthebeachoftheCantodosGanchos (27°18’S, 48°35’W) inGovernadorCelsoRamos, and at the Lagoa do Camacho lake (28°37’S,48°52’W)nearJaguarunaandLaguna,alongthesouth‑erncoastofSantaCatarina(Figures 1 and 2).Theformeris at the southern portion of the mouth of theTijucasRiver.Here, a10‑50 mwidebeach (at low tide) is ap‑proximately13 kmlongandthewaterbottomismuddy.The area must be reached by boat because the muddybottom precludes foot traffic. The latter comprises anarea of around 25  km2 and is connected to the sea bya30 mwide,1 km longcanal that is intermittent andmaybedividedintoseveralbodiesofwater,withsandy‑muddybottoms.

We fortuitously encountered the flamingo at theLagoa do Camacho, whereas at Governador Celso Ra‑mositwasfoundduringastudypriortodevelopmentofthearea.WevisitedthelattermonthlyfromJune2008

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–August2010.Wealsospokewithlocalresidentsabouttheirobservationsofthebirdsintheregion.

ResulTs

Field records

8 July2007– ayoung, solitary flamingowas seenandphotographedasitforagedatLagoadoCamacho(VQP,FábioSchunck,LucianoM.LimaandMarcoRego).Duetothenovelty,wewereuncertainastowhichspeciestheindividual was until we compared it to museum speci‑mensattheMuseudeZoologiadaUniversidadedeSãoPaulo(MZUSP),whenweidentifieditasP. andinus.

3June2008to10August2010–Agroupof32birdswas found by I.  R.  G. at Canto dos Ganchos in June2008 (Figure  3). Every month, with the exceptions ofJuly2008andJanuary2009,flamingoswereobservedinthesamearea,withnumbersofindividualsrangingfrom2(on14December2008)to32.Duringmostof2010,onlysmallgroupsof9‑14birdswereseen,exceptforthelast record, when 20 were seen. Behavior was variable,commonlyrestinginthetypicalpostureononelegwiththeheadrestingonthebody,sometimesforaging,ason11May2009,whenthebirdswereobservedfeedingfrom8:00to16:00.

23 July 2009–One individualwas collected atCantodosGanchosandisnowhousedattheMuseudeZoolo‑giadaUniversidadedeSãoPaulo(MZUSP84351).Thisspecimenisanon‑reproductivemale(undevelopedrighttesticle,leftmeasured7 × 3 mm),withanossifiedskullandwithlittlefatthatbranchedoverthechestandneck,where a small quantity was stored. This individual, aswellasothersinthegroup,hadsub‑adultplumagewhichlackedthevinaceoustonesthataretypicalofreproduc‑tive‑agedadults(cf.Johnsonet al.1958,delHoyo1992).Stomachcontentwasexaminedbutnopreywasclearlyidentifiable(A.Benetti,pers. com.).

Information from local residents

Most residents stated that the flamingos were al‑ways at Canto dos Ganchos. One resident of 60 yearsstatedthatflamingoswerealwaysintheregionduringthesouthernwinterandthat,inthepast,flockswerelargerthantheyaretoday.Also,flamingoswerenotinfrequent‑lyhuntedasfood.Anotherresident,livingintheareafor15years,statedthatheoftensawtheflamingos,occasion‑allynearhishouse.Residentsobservedthatoccasionallythe flamingosdisappear from the region, butnever forlongtimeintervals.Also,residentsstatedthatflamingos

FIGuRe 1:CantodosGanchosbeachinGovernadorCelsoRamos,oneoftheplacestheAndeanFlamingowasrecorded.Notetheexten‑sivemudbeachformedattheintertidalzoneandthepresenceofsomeflamingos.(PhotobyI. R. G.).

FIGuRe 2:LocationswhereflamingoswereseeninSantaCatarina,southern Brazil. Red circles are identified records of Phoenicoparrus andinus(A =CantodosGanchos;B =BarradoCamacho;C =JaraguádoSul;D =ErvalVelho).Bluetrianglesindicatedsightingsofuniden‑tifiedflamingos(fromNorthtoSouth:Itapema;CantodosGanchos;IslandofSantaCatarina,Florianópolis;andPinheira/Sonhobeaches,Palhoça).

FIGuRe 3:AndeanFlamingosatCantodosGanchosbeach,Gover‑nadorCelsoRamos.(PhotobyI. R. G.).

264 TheAndeanFlamingoPhoenicoparrus andinus(Philippi,1854)insouthernBrazil:isitavagrant?Ivo Rohling Ghizoni-Jr. and Vítor de Q. Piacentini

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mayreadilybeseenalongtheentirebeach,includingthesandbarinletattheTijucasRiver,10 kmaway.Noneoftheresidentsreportedhavingseenreproductiveactivities.AtCamacho,one fishermanaffirmed inOctober2006thatheoftensawflamingosinthewinteranditwasthisobservationthatleadustotheareainthefollowingwin‑ter. We confirmed that the residents clearly recognizedthe flamingoandwerenot confusing itwith theRose‑ateSpoonbill(Platalea ajaja),whichisalsoseenintheseareas.

other records in santa Catarina

Ten individuals were seen and photographed(I. R. G.)flyingnorthinthemorningof12May2007(27°36’42”S, 48°31’30”W; Figure  2), in Florianópolis.On2February2009,sixwereseenatthesamelocation(Ghizoni‑Jr.et al., inprep.),but,duetodistance,posi‑tive identificationofspecieswasnotpossible.Fiftytwoflamingos(unidentifiable)wereseenon25May2009fly‑ingoverItapema,ontheSantaCatarinacoast (J.Toso,pers.  com., Figure  2). Coincidentally, that day, we ob‑servedandclearlyidentified32P. andinusatCantodosGanchos.On5May2010,J.Toso(pers.com)againsawabout50unspecifiedflamingosflyingnorthoverItape‑ma.Thenextday(6May)atleast14AndeanFlamingoswererecordedatCantodosGanchos.

dIsCussIoN

Consideringourobservations,thecorrectidenti‑fication of many other sightings of flamingos in theregion is questionable. If so, then many sightings ofPhoenicopterus chilensis were in fact Phoenicoparrus andinus. For example, on 9 June 2002 a band of 25flamingos was seen flying over the beaches Pinheiraand Sonho, in Palhoça, and another individual wasseenon thebeachatCantodosGanchoson5and7July2002(Efeet al.2002).These flamingoswereas‑sumedtobeP. chilensisduetoitbeingmoreabundantin the southernBrazil (Antas1990,Belton1994). Infact,Phoenicopterus chilensisiscommonlyseeninlargegroupsinthelakesofthestateofRioGrandedoSul,towhichitmigratesduringtheaustralwinter,comingfromfarthersouth(Belton1994).Thisspecies israreinthestateofSantaCatarina(Sicket al.1981,Rosário1996)andthehistoricalrecordtoSantaCatarinaIslantwassuggestedtorequireconfirmation(NakaandRo‑drigues2000).Actually,whilePhoenicopterus chilensisisoftencitedinSantaCatarina,norecordthereclearlyidentified the species. Nonetheless, it is expected inSantaCatarina given the certain records in the statesofRioGrandedoSul, SãoPaulo andRiode Janeiro

(Belton1994,Bencke2001,Brancoet al.2001,Serpaet al.2008).

Phoenicoparrus andinus certainly occurs in otherareas when it is not atTijucas, and several reasons ex‑plainwhyitismostoftenseenthere.Severalplaces(over‑looks)arenearTijucasfromwhichobservationsareeasyandawideareaisvisible.Elsewhere,thehabitatusedbyP. andinusisofteninaccessible.ItislikelythatifsimilareffortwerespentlookingfortheAndeanFlamingointheappropriatehabitat,suchastheinletsDaniela(SantaCa‑tarinaisland,)SãoMiguelandBiguaçuandthemouthoftheCubatãoRiverinPalhoça,theywouldbeseenmoreoften.

Phoenicoparrus andinus feeds largely on diatoms,especially in the genusSurirella (delHoyo1992).Thisgenus has not been found in our study area, althoughdiatomsinthesamefamily(Bacillariophyceae)areabun‑dant(CarusoJr.2008).Thus,dietisprobablynotalim‑iting factorand foodabundancemayexplainwhy theyaresuchfrequentvisitors tothe intertidal regionof theTijucasinlet.LittleuseoftheareabypeoplemayalsobeassociatedwithflamingouseoftheTijucasinlet,whichisalsoprotectedfromtheoftenverystrongsouthernwinds.

OfthefourspeciesofflamingosinBrazil,thetwoPhoenicoparrus (P. andinus, P.  jamesi)areconsideredva‑grants(CBRO2009).IrregularsightingsoftheAndeanflamingoarenumerous(delHoyo1992)andoftenseemtobeassociatedwithstorms.StormsmayhavebeenthecauseofthesightingofJames’FlamingoinnorthernBra‑zil (Guilherme et  al. 2005). Interestingly, in Santa Ca‑tarina,all sightingswereofyoungor sub‑adultsandsotheyareyoungerthanthreeyearsofage(whenplumagechangestothatofadults,delHoyo1992).Mostobserva‑tions(bothoursandthoseofthelocalpeople)werealsoduringthesouthernwinter.TheseconsiderationssuggestthattheiroccurrenceinBrazilmaybeduetojuveniledis‑persal,whichmaybemorecommonduringthewinter,orduetostorms.

Thus,while treated as a vagrant inBrazil (CBRO2009), observations suggest that continued research isnecessary to determine the true status of the AndeanFlamingo in Brazil. Even if this relatively large groupwereblownoff course, it isdoubtful that it could finditswaybacktoitsorigin.Ifso,itmaybegintobreedinitsadoptedhomeinSantaCatarina.Regardless,furtherstudywillbenecessary to establish its residency status.Additionally,ifthesesightingsaretheresultofanaturalrange expansion, further study may provide importantinformation forunderstandinghow species become es‑tablishedinnewareas.OurstudyoftheTijucasinletandCantodosGanchosbeachcontinuestofollowthesebirdsandsearchforevidenceofadultsandreproduction,suchascourtshipbehaviorsornests.Additionally,explorationtofindforotherlocationswiththeAndeanFlamingowillcontinue.

265TheAndeanFlamingoPhoenicoparrus andinus(Philippi,1854)insouthernBrazil:isitavagrant?Ivo Rohling Ghizoni-Jr. and Vítor de Q. Piacentini

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ACKNoWledGmeNTs

Thanks to Janaína Bannwart, João Antonio P. R. Teixeirados Santos, Camila Sabadin and JavierToso for their observations.Caruso‑Jr. Estudos Ambientais and Engenharia Ltda and AtlânticaBrasil (Enrico) provided logistic support. Tobias S. Kunz, BretWhitney, Fábio Schunck, Luciano M. Lima, Luís Fábio Silveira,MarcoAntonioRegoandMarinaSomenzarihelpedinthefield.AlineS.Benettihelpedwithstomachanalysis.JamesJ.RopertranslatedthismanuscriptfromthePortugueseandprovidedvaluablecommentsforits improvement. VQP is supported by a doctoral fellowship fromFAPESP(processnumber06/60300‑4).

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