The Greater Flamingo Gazette #2 November 2019 Greater Flamingo news from around the Mediterranean | | Dear Greater Flamingo Sponsors, We are pleased to send you this brief account of the various Greater Flamingo ringing operations that took place during the 2019 season. 112 flamingos were ringed in Andalusia, Spain on 20 July, 96 in Sardinia, Italy on 3 August, 176 in Turkey and 400 in Catalonia, Spain on 4 August, and then 599 others at another site in Andalusia on 17 August. Unfortunately ringing operations could not be conducted for the remarkable colony of 22,000 birds that nest in Monastir, Tunisia due to the fact that the site is too close to the airport. In all, some 1,400 flamingo chicks were ringed in the Mediterranean region in 2019, which will contribute significantly to data gathering while improving our knowledge of this species! | | The ringing sessions of Greater flamingos in 2019 (click to enlarge) | | In addition, the dynamics of range expansion of Greater Flamingos around the Mediterranean Basin seems to be very good, with two new sites in particular where the species was recently observed in the Balkans. First of all, a first ring was read in September at Lake Atanasovsko in eastern Bulgaria, near the shores of the Black Sea, in a group of about 400 birds. This four-year old individual was ringed in Sicily in 2015, and had already been observed in Greece in 2018. | | Telephoto observation in September 2019 in Bulgaria of a flamingo ringed in Sicily in 2015 © Ralitsa Georgieva | | Two other sightings occurred during the same period, at another site about ten kilometres away. One concerned a bird ringed in Turkey on 3 August, and the other a flamingo ringed in the Camargue in 2015 - 1850 km away! Flamingo sightings were extremely rare in Bulgaria until 2013, but the good news is that since then they have continuously increased. | | Date and place of birth of the 3 ringed flamingos sighted in Bulgaria in September 2019 (click to enlarge) | | A colony also seems to want to nest in the Narta Salinas in Albania, on the edge of the Adriatic Sea. Some 140 individuals were sighted there in 2018, and again in 2019, where they made some attempts to breed. However, the breeding was ultimately unsuccessful, probably because they were disturbed by different predators. These attempts to breed are, however, very encouraging signs, and it is likely that this site will be used by nesting flamingos in the near future. We will of course be sure to keep you up to date on the future of this Albanian colony! | | Did you know? Greater Flamingos are particularly fond of brackish coastal lagoons and shallow salt lakes Greater Flamingos first breed when they are 3 to 4 years old The pink colour of flamingos does not appear until they are 1 year old Flamingos can fly up to 60 km/h, and can cross the Mediterranean Sea in a single night without stopping
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