La Cocha Lagoon ( es, Laguna de la Cocha) is a
volcanic crater lake located within the
Pasto Municipality in
Nariño,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.
La Cocha Lagoon is Colombia's second largest inland body of water after
Lake Tota in terms of surface area.
Wildlife
La Cocha Lagoon surrounds
La Corota Island Flora Sanctuary which is home to mammals such as
mountain tapir,
northern pudu and
spectacled bears, and bird species like
grebes
Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes . Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Some flightless ...
,
golden peck duck,
snipes, and
andean duck
The Andean duck (''Oxyura ferruginea'') is a bird species native to the Andean Mountains of South America, one of the stiff-tailed ducks. It was considered a subspecies of the ruddy duck. In fact, some taxonomic authorities still consider it con ...
s.
Important plant species include
frailejon
''Espeletia'', commonly known as 'frailejones' ("big monks"), is a genus of perennial subshrubs, in the family Asteraceae. The genus, which is native mainly to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, was first formally described in 1808. The genus was n ...
,
Schoenoplectus californicus
''Schoeneoplectus californicus'' is a species of sedge known by the common names California bulrush, southern bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related '' Schoenoplectus acutus'' is the species most o ...
, and
Juncus effusus.
References
{{Authority control
Cocha
Ramsar sites in Colombia