Qualla: Lagoa do Peixe National Park

Lagoa do Peixe National Park: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Some of the birds wading these shallows have flown here from the high Arctic. A red knot, a bird that could fit in your hand, may have left the tundra of northern Canada weeks ago and crossed entire continents to reach this slender lagoon on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. Lagoa do Peixe National Park exists for exactly this reason. Established in 1986 to protect a wintering ground for migratory birds, it is one of the most important wetlands in all of South America, a refueling stop on a journey that spans the hemisphere.

Lagoa do Peixe National Park: A Sliver of Coast

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The park is barely there, geographically speaking, and that is its genius. It stretches some thirty-five kilometers along the Atlantic shore but averages only about a kilometer wide, a thin band caught between two parallel lines of dunes. At its heart lies the Lagoa do Peixe, the...

Lagoa do Peixe National Park: The Great Migration

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Twice a year the sky fills. Lagoa do Peixe sits on one of the planet's great migratory flyways, a resting place for birds traveling between Patagonia in the far south and breeding grounds as distant as the United States and the Arctic. The cast of travelers is extraordinary: red ...

Lagoa do Peixe National Park: The Pink Residents

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Among the seasonal travelers, two species stand out in color and in significance. Both the Chilean flamingo and the rarer Andean flamingo visit these waters, and Lagoa do Peixe holds a distinction found nowhere else in the country: it is home to Brazil's only resident population ...

Lagoa do Peixe National Park: A Place the World Watches

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The world has recognized what Lagoa do Peixe protects. In April 1991 it was named an International Reserve of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, joining a continent-spanning chain of refuges. In May 1993 it became Ramsar Site number 603, registered under the global...