Junin Grebe
Punataucher (Podiceps taczanowskii )
The Punataucher or June Grebe (Podiceps taczanowskii ) is a native to Peru flightless species of grebes. He has an extremely small area of distribution, which only covers the Junín Lake, which is located in the Andes at 4080 m altitude. The Puna is an alternating wet altitudinal belt of the Andes over 4000 m, extending over wide areas of Peru. Therefore, the occasionally used name June diver is much more accurate, but is " Punataucher " more common name.
Appearance and way of life
The Punataucher sees the much more common Inca divers very similar, which is widely distributed in southern South America. It is 35 cm long; Throat, neck, and lower walls are white, and the upper back part of the head silvery gray.
The Junin Lake is a 143 -square-mile flat stretch of water, bordered by large reed beds. In this region, it can not only very cold, but also precipitates are mostly eliminated during the austral winter. On the Junin Lake of Punataucher most of the time the banks lives away in the middle of the lake; but it breeds in the reeds on the banks. The Punataucher feeds mainly on small schooling fish such as the Andenkärpflingen, but decrease significantly their holdings, if falling dry reed beds during the dry season. Punataucher often hunt together for fish. They swim in a line forward, so that they can fish erbäuten easier. Hold during their hunting often near submerged algal mats, which are particularly rich in fish. In addition to fish, they also eat insects and larvae.
Punataucher usually breed from November to March, but the prevailing weather conditions have an effect on reproductive events and in adverse weather falls in some years the breed completely out. The nests are created in the outer region of the long-range reed belt. Breeding pairs lay only one clutch, which is usually made up of two eggs. It also breed, not all couples, usually below one-third of the adult population breeding.
Causes of endangerment and conservation efforts
Since the 1950s, the ecosystem of the lake is destabilized significantly by humans. So the Upamayo Dam was built in 1955, which ensures that the reeds on the shore to dry out regularly. From upstream mines sediments are washed with toxic metal concentrations in the lake; throughout the northern half of the lake bottom is covered with iron oxides and thereby ecologically dead While in 1961 over 1000 Punataucher were counted on the lake, there were in 1997 only a little more than a hundred. The IUCN leads the Punataucher 'critically endangered "in the status.
The Peruvian government has recognized the Junin Lake as a national reserve with controlled hunting and fishing. In 2002, it also adopted emergency laws to protect the lake and to reduce especially the water withdrawal. However, these legal provisions have so far remained largely without effect. The lake is one of the world's major reserves of the Ramsar Convention, he has next to Punataucher also of particular importance for the June Rail ( Laterallus tuerosi ), June frog ( Batrachophrynus macrostomus ) and the catfish pygidium oroyae. Therefore several environmental organizations such as BirdLife International and the American Bird Conservancy contact repeatedly with the Peruvian government for improving the protection of the lake.