Background

Despite there being almost five million flamingos in the world today, the total number of major flamingo breeding sites, worldwide, is thought probably to number fewer than 30. Although flamingos might be individually numerous, colonially and reproductively they are threatened in a world where people are altering their landscapes, causing the birds’ feeding and breeding sites to vanish. Not surprisingly, all six species are either threatened or listed as priority species for conservation under international conventions.

There is a real need for the production of conservation action plans for the six different species of flamingos so all the important flamingo sites of the world can be found and protected.

Providing nest-sites

WWT has long advocated building artificial nest mounds for captive flamingos. Each year WWT aviculturalists sculpture natural looking ‘cement-like’ cones from the clay and mud substrate of the birds' nest islands which triggers egg laying activity in birds at Slimbridge and Washington. Based on the ‘Slimbridge experience’ workers in the Camargue in southern France provided 500 nest mounds for wild Greater Flamingos in Fangassier Lagoon with the result that birds resumed nesting after a period of several years without breeding.

Artificial incubation

WWT has ensured that flamingo eggs can be successfully incubated, to the point of hatching, in artificial incubators. This ensures that eggs are not accidentally knocked off from nests by clumsy parents climbing on and off nest mounds. WWT aviculturalists replace all freshly laid eggs with wooden dummy eggs fitted with anchors. When the real egg, which is placed in an incubator, begins to hatch on day 26, it is returned to its parents or foster-parents for hatching.

Flamingo tracking

WWT has been working with partner organisations to halt the decline of the one of the world's most spectacular birds, the Lesser Flamingo.

Since 2002 the WWT research team has been working with the Department of Ornithology, the Baringo and Koibatek County Councils, the Earthwatch Institute, and the National Musuems of Kenya based at Lake Bogoria to satellite track seven flamingos. The satellite tracking has identified sites used by the Lesser Flamingo in East Africa so they can be protected and conserved.

The project has focussed on the lakes in the Great Rift Valley where the largest population of Lesser Flamingos can be found. Seven of the birds were fitted with satellite transmitters in order to identify which lakes and wetlands they use. The results of this study has provided a basis for a conservation action plan that is currently being developed.

Background

Little is known about the Lesser Flamingo, not even their numbers are certain but it is thought that the population has dropped by at least 20 per cent in the past 15 years and now stands at between two and four million. The Lesser Flamingo’s dependence on a limited number of breeding sites has meant that it is classified by the World Conservation Union as ‘near-threatened’. In the past 30 years the east African population is known to have bred successfully only at Lake Natron in Tanzania and it is feared that a catastrophic event there would put the species in jeopardy.

For nearly a decade they have perished in large numbers, leaving the shores of African lakes littered with mountains of pink carcasses. Tests on dead birds have revealed traces of heavy metals including zinc, copper, lead, mercury and cadmium, although most die offs are thought to be caused by disease outbreaks and poisoning by blue green algae.

Adopt a flamingo

Other ways to support this project