By Joaquín Aldabe & Nicolas Marchand
Between July 22 and 25, we visited the WHSRN Site Laguna Mar Chiquita grasslands in Córdoba to strengthen the exchange of experiences between Uruguay’s coastal lagoons and those in Mar Chiquita, Argentina. This visit followed a previous one by the Aves Argentinas team to Uruguay.
The purpose of the visit was to understand the landscape and grassland management methods used at the site, identify threats to grassland shorebirds, learn more about the work of Aves Argentinas in the area, share insights on the challenges of conservation in productive lands, and discuss future collaborations.
Left: A Blue-throated Macaw pair ready for breeding. Photo: Daniel Alarcon. Right: A flock of Blue-throated Macaws at Barba Azul. Photo: Sebastian Herzog.
We began our visit in the southern area of the lagoon, where we observed a high degree of transformation in the natural environment. This region is characterized by intensive land use, mainly in agriculture and dairy farming, being one of the country’s leading dairy basins. High phosphorus levels in the soil facilitate intensive agricultural production.
We then traveled to La Rinconada, in the northern part of the lagoon, where natural environments such as saltgrass prairies, wetlands, and Chaco forest prevail. We toured the grasslands extensively, noting the predominance of tall grasslands (50 cm or more), which are managed through unplanned burns. Short-grass areas were also identified, where the Aves Argentinas monitoring team has detected higher concentrations of grassland shorebirds, such as the Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis), and American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica).
In terms of threats to grassland shorebirds, agricultural transformation pressure appears limited due to terrain conditions like salinity and flooding. However, the short-grass areas, which are favorable for these birds, are relatively scarce. Additionally, the Aves Argentinas local team has identified degraded short-grass areas due to overgrazing (see aerial photograph). Improved grazing management to prevent grassland degradation would be desirable. In this regard, there is an interesting network of actors who could make significant contributions, including the Ansenuza National Reserve, the Provincial Multiple-Use Reserve of Bañados del Río Dulce and Laguna Mar Chiquita, the National Parks office, NGOs, and livestock producers.
A Buff-breasted Sandpiper enjoying grassland habitat. Photo: Daniel Alarcon
Grassland burning is a common practice in the area. Assessing how shorebirds could use these recently burned grasslands is valuable. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is known to utilize burned grasslands extensively in Kansas, USA, suggesting that this species could also benefit from burned grassland patches in Mar Chiquita.
We observed an excellent working relationship between the Aves Argentinas team and local producers, with a clear foundation of trust and collaboration. This approach is very similar to the one used in the grasslands of Uruguay’s coastal lagoons, the Beni Savannas, and the Llanos de Orinoquía (Bolivia). It involves a strong on-the-ground presence, fostering trust between technicians and producers, and supporting production aligned with natural processes.
The visit was an excellent working experience that bridged distances, established several lines of future collaboration with the Aves Argentinas team, and laid the foundation for developing a regional project. This project will involve a series of WHSRN sites in grasslands across various South American countries.
Monitoring Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Barba Azul. Photos: Daniel Alarcon (left) and Tjalle Boorsma (right).
On August 20th, 2018, Asociación Armonía announced the purchase of a new reserve, 210 kilometers south of Barba Azul. The new reserve protects the most important breeding area for the southern sub-population of Blue-throated Macaws, and also opens an opportunity for Boorsma to reach his goal of a cattle ranching scheme that supports the conservation of Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Of the 11,000 hectares that make up Barba Azul, 6,000 are being kept cattle and fire free to protect several of the Reserve’s other threatened species. But the remaining 5,000 hectares, called Barba Azul East, will be dedicated to breeding and rearing the Reserve’s own cattle herd, with the plan to transport the cows to the new reserve to fatten up before being sold. Boorsma will be able to experiment with different stocking rates and grazing rotations to learn how best to combine cattle ranching with the conservation of crucial short-grass habitat. The goal, he says, is that “70 to 75% of the Reserve’s operational costs will eventually come from cattle.”
Left: A flock of Buff-breasted Sandpipers flies over river-edge short grass habitat in the Barba Azul Nature Reserve. Photo: Daniel Alarcon. Right: Barba Azul East ranger in flooded savanna habitat. Photo: Tjalle Boorsma.
For more information, please contact Tjalle Boorsma, Conservation Program Director supervising the Barba Azul Nature Reserve, at tboorsma@armonia-bo.org.
Cover Photo: A mussel bed in Cape Cod, United States. Photo: Alan Kneidel.
