Flamingos at the Bird Fair 2013
Several flocks of the flamingos are out and about for this weekend's Bird Fair at WWT Slimbridge. Whilst ice is keeping the greater and Caribbean flocks tucked away safe and snug in their houses, the other three flocks of flamingos are out and about and enjoying the sunshine. The Andean flamingos have settled in well after their move and have not been affected by the cold weather at all. A hardy upland species, these birds have been out (so long as there is no ice) even when snow has been on the ground. Today, the Andeans were especially active and I wondered if the winter sunshine had triggered some frisky thoughts in some of the bird's minds... there were a few attempts at marching and parading around their enclosure, as well as birds getting very excited and running, flapping and charging into their pool. At least this is one way of staving off the cold!
The lesser flamingos too were extremely active and there was even (albeit a little self-consciously) an attempt at group "marching". An important courtship display, but not that helpful at this time of year. Lesser flamingos are a real tropical bird and do not like biting cold weather, so today's sunshine saw them out and about around their enclosure with gusto. Group marching in lesser flamingos sees the majority of the flock storming up and down in unison. The birds exhibit a characteristic "broken neck" position when marching, and this is a behaviour that we hope to encourage. But in the summertime, when things are much more conducive to nesting and rearing young!
And finally, a little piece of Patagonia recreated at WWT Slimbridge. Here is good ol' Mr James reunited with one of his old cage-mates. Currently you can see all three species of South American flamingo mixed together in the Flamingo Pen at the back of "Swan Lake" as several young Chilean flamingos are current "roomies" with Mr James and the flock of Andeans. It's a good way of comparing the different evolutionary bill designs of these species of flamingo, as well as differences in colour, shape and size.
