Birds Foraging in Ruins of Miramar, Mar Chiquita, Argentina

Flamingos and black-necked stilts foraging in the still-inundated ruins of the coastal city of Miramar on the shores of Mar Chiquita, Cordoba, Argentina. In the mid-1980s Mar Chiquita rose 9 m (30') and flooded the city as well as many other resorts and ranches on the shores of this inland lake. Although high waters could return, a bigger worry for the lake is that agricultural diversions will rob the lake of water and it will dry up. The current salinity of 65 g/L produces large quantities of invertebrate prey for birds, but if salinities rise above 200 g/L abundances and species diversity will decrease greatly.

Photo: April 1, 2011
Limnology: The study of inland waters