Alvarado Lagoon System
The Alvarado Lagoon System is a large estuary and wetland complex in Veracruz state of eastern Mexico. It is located on the southern Gulf Coastal Plain, where the Papaloapan and Blanco rivers meet the Gulf of Mexico.
Geography
The lagoon system includes several brackish coastal lagoons, including Alvarado Lagoon, many tidal channels and interior lagoons, and extensive wetlands and coastal dunes.Flora and fauna
Habitats include large areas of mangrove, marshes of sedges, and cattails, swamp forests or apompales of Pachira aquatica, palm forests of Sabal mexicana, Attalea butyracea, and Acrocomia mexicana, and riparian oak forests of Quercus oleoides.The Alvarado Lagoon System provides habitat for numerous waterfowl and wetland birds, and is designated an Important Bird Area. The lagoons are also an important habitat for the West Indian manatee.
346 species of birds have been recorded in the wetlands. 50% are year-round residents, 32% winter residents, 2% summer residents, 10% transitory, and the rest occasional visitors. The wetlands are a congregation area for waterbirds, including northern pintail American white pelican, brown pelican, piping plover, and least bittern. White-winged dove is plentiful. It is a breeding area for raptors, including the snail kite, common black hawk, great black hawk and black-collared hawk. The scissor-tailed flycatcher and eastern kingbird are migrants. At-risk species include the snail kite, piping plover, least bittern, peregrine falcon, and lesser yellow-headed vulture.
Conservation and threats
Threats to the wetlands include expansion of agriculture and cattle ranches, mangrove cutting, unsustainable fishing practices, and upstream erosion silting up the lagoons and wetlands.The lagoon system was designated a Ramsar site in 2004.