James's Flamingo

• It was thought extinct until a population was found in a remote part of the Andes in 1956.
• The first known specimen was collected in 1886 near the Isluga volcano in Chile, and was described twice in the same year, under the same name, by different authors in Chile and in England.
• Its name honours Harry Berkeley James, an Englishman who ran a nitrate mine in Chile and funded the expedition that collected it.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

The Puna ecoregion: salt flats, wet meadows, high-Andean bogs, watercourses and shallow brackish lagoons on desert plateaus above 3,500 m, in endorheic basins such as the Salar de Atacama. It prefers shallower water and higher altitudes than the other flamingos

Litter / clutch size

It breeds mainly in Bolivia. Seven stages are recognised in its breeding cycle

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Birds of the World (Rivas et al. 2024, versión 2.0); Ministerio del Medio Ambiente de Chile (RCE, 15.º proceso); Martínez y González 2017; eBird; Sclater 1886

Best time: All year round on the salt flats of the Puna, above 4,000 m

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.