Revista de Biología Tropical, ISSN: 2215-2075, Vol. 69(2): 000-000, April-June 2021 (Published Apr. 01, 2021)

Unmanned aerial vehicle, and GIS tools, to monitor the reproduction of the

flamingo Phoenicopterus chilensis (Aves: Phoenicopteridae)

César R. Luque-Fernández

*; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8050-461X

Kenny Caballero

; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4487-3068

Gregory Anthony Pauca

; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6367-5345

Luis Villegas

; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7605-4326

Ibai Alcelay

; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5512-5025

John Machaca

; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4901-7738

1. Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa, Perú; cluquef@unsa.edu.pe (*Correspondence),

gpaucat@unsa.edu.pe, alcelaybai@gmail.com

2. Centro de Estudios y Promoción del Desarrollo del Sur (DESCOSUR), Arequipa, Perú; kenny@descosur.org.pe

3. Escuela de Posgrado, Universidad Católica de Santa María, Arequipa, Perú; lvillegasp@unsa.edu.pe

4. Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca (RNSyAB), Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el

Estado (SERNANP), Arequipa, Perú; jmachaca@sernanp.gob.pe

Received 11-II-2021. Corrected 11-V-2021. Accepted 10-VI-2021.

Abstract. Introduction: High Andean flamingos also known as parihuanas, are species of recurrent presence

in the high Andean areas which find this area as an important resting, feeding and in some cases breeding area

The species recorded here correspond to Phoenicoparrus jamesi, Phoenicoparrus andinus and Phoenicopterus

chilensis, the latter being the most abundant and common. During the censuses performed during 2018 and 2019,

in the high Andean lake of Salinas, Ramsar site, located within the Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca

in Southern Peru, atypical behaviors of these birds were recorded in a sector of the lake, observing reproductive

courtship and the settlement of colonies of P. chilensis. Objective: The study aimed to confirm and evaluate

reproductive events of P. chilenesis (Chilean flamingo) through the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

and image processing tools using geographic information systems. Methodology: Monitoring was conducted

during 2018 and 2019 to breeding colonies of P. chilensis, we used a UAV Phantom 4 testing different flight

altitudes to avoid disturbing the birds and performed records of aerial photographs and GIS post-processing with

the creation of panchromatic images for the identification and counting of individuals and eggs automated, and

manual verification. Results: During 2018 were identified nests and presence of six eggs, this occurred between

March and June where the event was interrupted not observing chicks or juveniles during this period, for 2019

the breeding was more successful, where a higher number of eggs were counted (40-66) and with the formation

of three reproductive colonies with 4 185 adult individuals, also verified the presence of chicks and juveniles that

reached a maximum of 1 491 individuals. Conclusions: We confirmed two continuous reproductive events of P.

chilensis in the Salinas lake, where during 2019 was the most successful incorporating several new individuals to

the initial population, likewise the methodology applied in the image processing allowed differentiating between

adult individuals and eggs but did not allow differentiating juveniles, however, the images directly acquired by

the UAV allow distinguishing the types of individuals to perform a manual count.

Key words: parihuana; nesting; breeding; remote sensing; drone.

Luque-Fernández, C.R., Caballero, K., Pauca, G.A., Villegas, L.,

Alcelay, I., & Machaca, J. (2021). Unmanned aerial vehicle,

and GIS tools, to monitor the reproduction of the flamingo

Phoenicopterus chilensis (Aves: Phoenicopteridae). Revista

de Biología Tropical, 69(2), 000-000. https://doi.org/

https://doi.org/10.0000000000000000000

Revista de Biología Tropical, ISSN: 2215-2075 Vol. 69(2): 000-000, April-June 2021 (Published Apr. 01, 2021)

High Andean flamingos, parinas or pari-

huanas (Phoenicopteridae), are birds with a

distinctive plumage color, ranging from shades

of pink and purple to salmon, currently there

are six species distributed in America, Africa

and Eurasia (Mendoza et al., 2013). Flamingos

are gregarious and long-lived birds that inhabit

mostly hypersaline, salty and shallow aquatic

environments, and can be found from sea level

to above 5 000 m.a.s.l. They are birds highly

specialized in plankton feeding, usually prefer

lakes or lagoons with a high concentration of

salts and food, in which they often use also for

breeding (Hurlbert & Keith, 1979; Martínez &

González, 2017; Winkler et al., 2020). Three

species are currently reported in Peru and

are typical of the Andean Altiplano of South

America: Jame’s Flamingo or puna parihuana

(Phoenicoparrus jamesi), Andean Flamingo or

Andean parihuana (Phoenicoparrus andinus)

and Chilean Flamingo or common parihuana

(Phoenicopterus chilensis); being P. chilensis

the most widespread, distributing from North

to South of Peru and classified as a common

and resident species (Hurlbert & Keith, 1979;

Schulenberg et al., 2010). Flamingo popula-

tions are vulnerable due to the fragility of the

habitats they reside in, in addition to other

threats such as predation risk and anthro-

pogenic disturbances, which also condition

their abundance and distribution (Barisón et

al., 2014). The current conservation status of

the Chilean flamingo is “Near Threatened”

by the IUCN (BirdLife International, 2018),

also included in CITES Appendix II, and by

national categorization as by the Peruvian

State as “Near Threatened” (Supreme Decree

N-004-2014-MINAGRI).

The largest populations of Chilean fla-

mingo are found in Argentina, Bolivia and

Chile, especially in the reproductive season

(Caziani et al., 2007), however in Peru there are

few reports about these events or nidification

sites (Ugarte-Núñez & Mosaurieta-Echegaray,

2000; Rodríguez, 2005) and have been little

studied and monitored. With the development

of new technologies and their low costs, a

change in research methodologies is occurring

(Grémillet et al., 2012). For example, the

case of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are

becoming more and more common (Borrelle

& Fletcher, 2017), especially in ornithologi-

cal studies (Chabot et al., 2015; Dulava et al.,

2015; McClelland et al., 2016) and specifically

in the case of flamingos (Vas et al., 2015), it has

been concluded that they do not produce signif-

icant disturbances in their populations, offering

greater efficiency in the observation of indi-

viduals in incubation and juveniles, accounting

in general terms a greater number of individu-

als compared to observations made from land

(Sabella et al., 2017; Vas et al., 2015).

This research aims to evaluate the unusual

reproductive events recorded in the popula-

tion of the P. chilensis in the high Andean

lake of Salinas, in a protected natural area in

Southern Peru, which had not been previously

reported as an active breeding site of this spe-

cies for more than 20 years. Additionally, we

incorporated the monitoring of these events

with the use of an unmanned vehicle (UAV)

and developed a methodology for the process-

ing and quantification of individuals and the

detection of eggs through the implementation

of GIS tools.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study site: The study area corresponds to

Salinas lake, a high Andean Salt Lake, which

has been recognized as a Ramsar site since

2003. Politically it is located between Areq-

uipa and Moquegua regions, in Southern Peru,

that adjacent to three peasant communities

(Salinas Huito, Salinas Moche and Santa Lucia

de Salinas); within the Reserva Nacional de

Salinas y Aguada Blanca (RNSyAB), which is

under the management of the Servicio Nacional

de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado

(SERNANP). This wetland is located in an

endorheic basin, supplied mainly by rainwater,

at an altitude of 4 300 m.a.s.l., it covers an area

of 6 182 ha and it is surrounded by a large area

of hydrophytic vegetation (bofedales). In addi-

tion, the lake is the site of economic activities

such as boron salt extraction by the INKABOR

Revista de Biología Tropical, ISSN: 2215-2075, Vol. 69(2): 000-000, April-June 2021 (Published Apr. 01, 2021)

mining company, salt extraction, and grazing

of domestic South American camelids (alpacas

and llamas) by residents of rural communities.

Monitoring colonies of Chilean flamin-

gos: As a background to this research, since

2012, joint monitoring has been carried out in

the Salinas lake by the participating entities

(SERNANP, DESCO and the INKABOR Com-

pany), to know the population dynamics of the

water birds in this lake. But, during the moni-

toring surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019,

unusual behaviors were recorded in the Chil-

ean Flamingo population, where reproductive

rituals were exhibited by a large group of these

animals (in both years starting in February),

resulted in the establishment of three closely

spaced colonies in the Northeastern sector of

the lake (16°22’7.30” S & 71°8’32.98” W),

which were evaluated for this research (Fig. 1).

In addition, although two other species of fla-

mingos (Phoenicoparrus jamesi, Phoenicopar-

rus andinus) also occur in the study area, they

were not present in the breeding colonies

evaluated in any years.

Instruments and evaluation parame-

ters: The observation and monitoring of the

reproductive colonies of the Chilean flamin-

go were performed with aerial shots from

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Phamton

4 Advance, white color, with an integrated

20-megapixel camera.

To establish the UAV flight parameters,

the methodology used by Vas et al. (2015) was

used as a reference, to avoid or reduce pos-

sible disturbances caused by the UAV during

the flight. Overflights of 30 min were made in

the direction of the identified colonies, being

the height of the initial flight 100 m with a

displacement of 6 m/s. Once the location of the

flamingo’s colony was located, a slow descent

was made over the colony with pauses every

10 m, to verify any disturbance was caused in

the overflown colonies; the approach limit was

never less than 30 m in height, at this height the

Fig. 1. Location of the evaluation sector of the Chilean Flamingo colonies (black star) in Salinas Lake, Arequipa, Peru.