Lake Nakuru water rise prompts flamingo exit

Flamingos have moved to Bogoria for now
August 2012. A million flamingos have temporarily moved from Lake Nakuru to Lake Bogoria leaving behind just a few hundred owing to a reduction in their food supply. This has been caused by an unusal phenomenon of rising water to levels last experienced over 60 years ago at Lake Nakuru National Park. The increase in water levels reduces the salinity of water in the lake thereby reducing algae, the main food for flamingos.

Other birds have increased
The remaining population of over 450 bird species including pelicans, storks and gulls as well numerous species of migratory birds have increased tremendously. The previously elusive hippos are now easier to see.

The reduction in grasslands by the rising water levels has made it easier to view the rest of the thriving mammalian population in the park. These include buffalos, baboons, impalas, bushbacks and waterbucks.

Water levels have risen by as much as 2 metres, submerging sections of acacia forest and reducing the salinity of the water, thereby rendering the aquatic habitat unsuitable for flamingos for the time being.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/nakuru-flamingo-bogoria.html#cr

Pretty flamingo

A Chinese zoo has managed to persuade its lonely flamingos to breed - by surrounding their cage in Shenzhen Wild Animal Zoo, with mirrors to make it seem as if they are in a colony.

Zoo spokesman Zhang Lu said: "In the wild they live in large flocks and when they are separated they become depressed and anxious, and they certainly don't feel confident enough to have chicks.

"But this year we had two new flamingo chicks, making 19 new flamingos born in the zoo since we started using mirrors.

"We got the birds in 1993 from Japan but they didn't breed it all and we were told by experts that we didn't have enough of them to make them feel as if they were a real flamingo colony.

"In total we fitted 45 feet of mirrors, each over 3 foot high, and it was amazing to see the change in the flamingos. They were much more animated and alive and ate more and the real proof was that we have chicks from 2003 when we installed the mirrors."

Flamingos live a similar lifespan to man with the oldest recorded flamingo being 77 years old and living at Adelaide zoo in Australia.

Showing little sign of the good looking bird it will become this pretty flamingo photographed this week is one of 17 chicks hatched out recently at Vienna's Schoenbrunn zoo - where with over 100 flamingos there is no need to resort to mirrors.

The stunted wings, stubby legs and grey down will be replaced eventually with the pink feathers of its parents by the time its three, but until then this chick is enjoying life with the other youngsters in the zoo.

As soon as flamingo chicks are old enough to leave the nest they gather together in nurseries with other chicks were the entire colony takes care to make sure they are fed and protected.

Zoo boss Dagmar Schratter said that amazingly no matter how large the colony the parents always manage to find their grey roly-poly youngster without any difficulty.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Pretty_flamingo

Indian lesser flamingos compared to their African cousins in new genetic study

Are flamingos in India and Africa genetically birds of a feather?

Fenruary 2012. A University of Leicester conservation biologist - David Harper, from the Department of Biology - is leading a study which will establish whether lesser flamingos of India and Africa are genetically identical or not.

The Asian population of flamingos, which is the second largest in the world, is concentrated in Gujarat. However, the African flamingos are distributed in East, South and West Africa. The largest population is spread between Ethiopia and Tanzania, along the soda lakes of East Africa.

Dr David Harper is working with research scientist B M Parasharya and geneticist D.N. Rank of Anand Agricultural University (AAU) in Gujarat. The findings of this study will be compared with earlier results on African flamingos by Dr Harper's team of UK and Italian scientists from Insubria University, Varese. Then, they found that populations are distinct, but mix by about half a dozen individuals every generation who cross the thousands of kilometres between Botswana-Nabibia and Kenya-Tanzania.

Indian flamingos
Dr Harper recently attended the second Global Bird Watchers Conference at Ahmedabad - organised by Gujarat Tourism, in partnership with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) - where he made an invited presentation about lesser flamingos and their habitats. The study, which he carried out after the conference, will provide the only scientific evidence for inter-continental movement of flamingos.

David Harper says: "Lesser flamingos are fascinating birds for very many reasons. No other vertebrate on this planet can exist by filter feeding on bacteria alone. They have 4 distinct populations, thousands of miles apart, yet no birds have ever been seen moving between them. They breed in the most inhospitable regions of the earth where predators cannot survive - one in Tanzania and one in India. They are the origin of the fable of the Phoenix rising from the ashes, because until 1960 nobody knew where they bred, they just appeared from nowhere, a majestic ‘firebird'."

The study was originally funded by the Darwin Initiative and the British Council and more recently by the State of Gujarat Tourism Department as part of the 2nd Global Birdwatchers Conference.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/lesser-flamingos.html

Dudley Zoo's fears flamingos 'might blow away' in gales

Zoo keepers spent 30 minutes trying to catch a flock of flamingos they feared would be blown away in strong winds.

The seven birds at Dudley Zoo have clipped wings and cannot fly but were being buffeted by gusts of 30mph (48km/h) on Thursday.

The winds threatened to sweep them off their legs and keepers feared they would be injured upon landing.

They are difficult creatures to catch, because they run fast and have powerful beaks like a swan's, the zoo said.

The birds weigh between 5.5lb (2.5kg) and 7.7lb (3.5kg) each and can easily outrun a human, the zoo said.

Zoo curator Matt Lewis said: "They can give a nasty peck if you don't get it right. Their beaks are very powerful, rather like a swan's, and leave a deep bruise.

"The best approach is to corner them and then move them by putting a hand around their neck and another across their body - and believe me, that's much easier said than done."

Another spokesman for the zoo said the flamingo enclosure was a relatively exposed outdoor area measuring about half an acre (0.2 hectares) with low walls to allow optimal viewing.

The winds were causing the birds to become distressed and had they broken their legs, they would have had to be put down, the spokesman added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-16439955

Drama at Manchester Airport as pink flamingo closes runway

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1425616_drama-at-manchester-airport-as-pink-flamingo-closes-runway

Workers at Manchester Airport were left in a flap – after a pink flamingo forced the closure of a runway. The large bird sparked a bizarre airfield drama by evading capture for almost FIVE hours. Staff at the airport's wildlife control unit called in the police and they chased the animal - nicknamed Ringo – with nets. But every time they got close to the bird it flew off, only to later return.


http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1425616_drama-at-manchester-airport-as-pink-flamingo-closes-runway

Tagged flamingo to show bird's migratory routes

Abu Dhabi: "Yasmeena", a greater Flamingo will help humans with new information on flamingo's migratory routes stretching from the UAE to Kazakhstan.


She was tagged by the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) yesterday at Al Wathba Wetland Reserve as part of its work to track and monitor birds.

Some among the nine flamingos tagged by the EAD since 1995 have flown to Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and provided new insights into their adventurous journey, an official told Gulf News.

The tracking programme is not meant for getting any new information on the behaviour of the birds but their migratory routes and stopover sites only, Dr Salim Javed, head of EAD's Bird Programme and Manager of Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring, said. The EAD, the first organisation in the Gulf region to satellite tag flamingos since 2005 has successfully tagged 15 flamingos in the UAE, of which nine are still being tracked.

One of these birds, named ‘Sindibad' by EAD, was the first bird to cross the Arabian Gulf stopping along the way at key wetland sites and is currently in Khor Al Beidah in Umm Al Quwain and continues to be tracked by EAD experts.

GPS transmitters
In 2005, five flamingos were captured and marked with plastic rings and satellite transmitters. The capture and tagging was done at the Abu Dhabi Al Wathba Wetland Reserve by the EAD, which also manages the Reserve. Inspired by the success of the programme, the agency has expanded it to cover migratory birds of prey such as the Osprey and Sooty falcon.

The EAD now has a better understanding of where these birds go to feed and where they were migrating from. Birds were tagged with GPS transmitters in November 2005, January 2007, and December 2009. Four flamingos were tagged in Dubai in 2009. Three birds were also tagged in Bul Syayeef area in January 2010.

Satellite tagged birds have successfully migrated north to their potential breeding or summering areas in Iran and Kazakhstan

Regular locations from one of the flamingos' satellite tagged in Al Wathba in 2007 helped EAD discover a new breeding colony of flamingos in April 2009 in Abu Dhabi's Mussafah Channel.



By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/environment/tagged-flamingo-to-show-bird-s-migratory-routes-1.738162

Flamingos gathered in the shape of a flamingo is 'holy grail' of pictures

A photographer in Mexico claims he captured a real ‘bird’s eye view’ when a flock of flamingos gathered in this incredible shape.
Bobby Haas explained he had spent half an hour photographing the birds in their natural habitat from the air and was ready to head home. Yet just as the helicopter turned to leave he noticed the flamingos created an unusual formation.

Mr Haas said: 'I was just leaving when I noticed that the flock was moving into a shape resembling a flamingo. I told the pilot to whip around but go in slowly, since if you startle the flock they will splinter’.

His chance to snap the birds was fleeting and Haas only managed to take one picture. It wasn’t until he developed it months later that the picture’s true majesty became clear.

‘It’s the holy grail in photography when you capture an image you’ve never seen before and may never see again.

‘It really was a spiritual moment’, Mr Haas added.

‘Some people have actually said that the image is divine intervention and proof that there is a God.’

Holy creation seems like a stretch, but it is certainly a once in a lifetime snap.


http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/847972-flamingos-gather-in-the-shape-of-a-flamingo#ixzz161lg3skN