The Greater Flamingo Gazette #5 September 2020 Greater Flamingo news from around the Mediterranean | | Dear Greater Flamingo Sponsors, As every year at this time, you all ask us: "Was there a ringing this summer?" The answer is "yes"! But, in an exceptional year, exceptional ringing ... and masked! | | Weighing of a flamingo during ringing (August 5, 2020) © Fabrice Pavanello | | A quick look back at the colony which, in 2020, breaks all records! As announced in our previous gazette, the colony of Aigues-Mortes has occupied several islets and saltwork dikes since the spring. Not far from 20,000 couples have settled to give birth to 16,300 chicks. This is a record year for France! In previous years, we observed around 7,000 couples and between 1,000 and 1,500 births on these saltworks. The hypotheses of this "baby boom" are numerous and uncertain. We can imagine that greater peace and quiet in the air due to the confinement has something to do with it, but also on the ground thanks to access to the site strictly reserved for salt workers and scientists. The weather conditions in spring, which allowed the marshes to remain in water and thus to maintain large feeding areas, have certainly had a positive impact. A very interventionist management of the foxes has certainly greatly contributed to this success, especially for all the birds installed on the dikes. | | Nursery of Greater flamingos on August 7, 2020 at the Aigues-Mortes Saltworks. © Antoine Arnaud | | What about ringing? It thus took place on Wednesday August 5 very early, as usual, but the current sanitary conditions forced us to limit the number of participants and thus the number of ringed chicks. While this event usually involves about 150 people who come in force to fold and ring the chicks, this year only about 40 participants were allowed to surround the nursery and lead the chicks to the corral set up on the sand for the occasion. | | Folding of chicks in the corral before ringing (August 5, 2020) © Fabrice Pavanello | | Nevertheless, we were able to ring 327 chicks this year (compared to about 800 in previous years). Each of them was weighed and measured before being gently released. | | Have a nice trip KZHF © Fabrice Pavanello | | 
Why take a special interest in this flamingo? For the first time in France, a flamingo was equiped with a GPS tracker. This operation will first allow to test the equipment. It is a tracker that has the advantage of being able to be placed on one of the legs of the bird which reduces the disturbance caused. This was obviously the opportunity to put the LATZ ring on the bird. The use of such trackers on a larger number of birds could allow in the future to study with more precision the migratory routes of flamingos. | | Setting the GPS tracker on the bird LATZ © Fabrice Pavanello | | It is already possible to follow the moves of LATZ since August 5. After spending some time in the Saltworks of Aigues-Mortes, it took off to explore the surroundings of Piémanson... | | We will not fail to keep you informed in our future gazettes of its next trips! | | Now it's your turn, where is LATZ? (07/08/2020; © Antoine Arnaud) | |  
But who are they? These two young flamingos, just ringed at the beginning of August, were the first to be observed at the end of the month at the Parc ornithologique de Pont de Gau. | | The flamingos of the moment Focus on a few individuals observed in recent months 
This flamingo was born and ringed in the Marismas del Odiel in Spain on July 20, 2019. It was first observed on November 18, 2019 in Gambia. It travelled more than 2,800 km.
And guess what, it is the first time that a ringed flamingo is observed in this African country. | |  
They are both Spanish flamingos, born and ringed in the Fuente de Piedra lagoon in Malaga, Spain, 1|VZB female from 2010 and 2|VPB from 2019, sex unknown.They were observed together this summer in the Netherlands (Polder IJdoorn in North Holland and then in Flevoland). They are the first flamingos ringed in the Mediterranean observed in this country. 1|VZB had been observed in June in the Salt Works of Aigues-Mortes. | | 1|VZB in the middle with 2|VPB on the right in Polder IJdoorn, Netherlands, on 11/07/2020 © Vincent van der Spek | | Surprise! We are announcing a surprise for the summer, it is a new website dedicated to the sponsorship of Greater Flamingos, with a personal area for sponsors.
It's coming, so get ready!
Within a few days, you will be notified by email of its online launch and the procedure to follow to access your personal area. In the meantime, we would like to unveil below our two new mascots, PAT and POPIT. | | Did you know? Two lesser flamingos came to visit their fellow flamingos in the colony installed in the Saltworks of Aigues-Mortes. It is a species found mainly in East Africa but a small population is located between Senegal and Mauritania where it regularly lives close to greater flamingos. | | One of the lesser flamingos observed in the colony of Aigues-Mortes, on 21/07/2020 Photos and video © Camille Couderc | | To renew you support for 2020: this is the place to go! You can also adopt a flamingo for you or for a loved one: here's the place! Thank you for your support and do not hesitate to talk around you about our Greater Flamingo programme! | | | |
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