UK Flamingo breeding 2013

B

Bele

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I visited WWT Llanelli over the weekend and was pleased to see 8 chicks ( possibly more hidden ) in the Caribbean flamingo flock . I also saw the Greater flamingos at Marwell nesting earlier in the year - according to the news thread 4 have hatched . With a much better Summer this year I am wondering if this is going to be a good Flamingo breeding year in the UK .

From their website , including the fascinating Flamingo Diary , I see that the Caribbeans at Slimbridge have hatched a number of chicks and the Chileans are nesting enthusiastically ( much earlier than in recent years ) . At Martin Mere at least 4 Greaters have hatched with Chileans also laying earlier than usual .

At Chester a number of Caribbeans have hatched .

I am wondering if Zoochatters have seen Flamingo breeding in other UK collections they have visited this Summer , or are aware of other breeding successes .
 
Seaview Wildlife park on the Isle of Wight always seems to have large broods of flamingo chicks hatch every year! Last time i visited (last year) They certainly had more than 30 chicks in varying stages of development!
 
The greater flamingos at Bristol breed well and have several chicks this year (I can't remember the exact number I'm afraid).

Alan
 
Thanks stubeanz and gentle lemur . Both these collections which seem to breed consistently keep their flamingos in enclosed aviaries . I would personally like to see more of this .
 
Although no actual hatchings have happened yet, the Chilean flamingos at Colchester have laid eggs for the first time this year and they are now being incubated off-show. Fingers crossed for some success.
 
From visits over the last few months , information received from discussions with other Zoochatters and checking out Zoo new from their websites and Facebook pages ( some animal news can be found amid the mass of marketing ! ) I can report the following -

CARIBBEAN FLAMINGO
WWT Slimbridge - quite a few chicks in the flock at the time of the Zoohistorica weekend last month
WWT Llanelli - 9 well-grown chicks seen last month
Chester - another good breeding season reported
Blackpool - 3 chicks being hand-reared

GREATER FLAMINGO
Bristol - at least 3 chicks seen during the Zoohistorica weekend
ZSL London zoo - 2 chicks seen last month
WWT Martin Mere - a good breeding season reported
Marwell - unfortunately none of the 4 chicks hatched were reared

CHILEAN FLAMINGO
WWT Slimbridge - a good number of chicks seen with the flock last month , breeding started much earlier in 2013 than in recent years
WWT Martin Mere - also started breeding earlier and with success
WWT Washington - a number of late season eggs from Slimbridge , Martin Mere and Chester have been hatched and are the chicks are being hand-reared
Chester - successful breeding again
Flamingo Park , Seaview IOW - a total of 15 chicks being reared according to Facebook ( the flock is housed in a large aviary )
Longleat - the breeding flock were disturbed by a thunder storm and abandoned their nests , the eggs were rescued and 5 chicks were hatched and are being hand-reared ( the flock is housed in a large aviary )

I am not aware of any other breeding successes in more collections but hope there are some .
 
The Lessers at Hillside failed to breed this year again,but more pairs showed signs of courtship this year!
 
I visited Flamingo Land yesterday and did not see any evidence of successful breeding having taken place this year.
 
UK Flamingo breeding

Young are being hand- reared from the Durrell flock of Chileans here in Jersey. Pinioned birds on open water.
 
Does anyone think that there'll be flamingos in the UK that aren't Greater, Chilean or Caribbean in - say- 15 or 20 years' time?
 
I think in 10-15 years time we'll all look back and say "I can't believe we used to pinion our cranes, pelicans, storks, flamingoes and waterfowl". In the same way we look back at old elephant paddocks, great ape houses and bear pits, we will feel shocked we allowed it to happen!
 
I hope we will still have the three larger taxa. Lessers will take a bit of effort. WWT's single James's can't go on for ever, ditto the few Andeans.
Can we all just agree to differ on pinioning? Barring disasters, there should still be a lot of pinioned birds around in 20 years time, considering how long these birds live, even if pinioning was stopped tomorrow.
 
FBBird said:
I hope we will still have the three larger taxa. Lessers will take a bit of effort. WWT's single James's can't go on for ever, ditto the few Andeans.
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I certainly would not rule out the prospect of there still being Lessers dotted around in small numbers in another decade; it is just a shame that possibly the most common flamingo is doing so poorly in captivity!
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I certainly would not rule out the prospect of there still being Lessers dotted around in small numbers in another decade; it is just a shame that possibly the most common flamingo is doing so poorly in captivity!
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A numerous enough animal, but with a limited number of nesting colonies. And it does seem to need a big colony before breeding will occur. That was a combination that didn't help the Passenger Pigeon.

Lesser Flamingo faces different pressures - its alkaline lakes are very attractive to chemical companies looking to do deals on underdeveloped countries with low labour costs...
 
Bele said:
Thanks stubeanz and gentle lemur . Both these collections which seem to breed consistently keep their flamingos in enclosed aviaries . I would personally like to see more of this .
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More collections are now moving over to keeping Flamingos in covered enclosures, if they can, it helps facilitate natural mating amongst many other benefits. And aiming to keep larger, single species flocks, mixed flocks are not advised any longer, and at least 40 birds is recommended of a species such as the Greaters. Pinioning is largely frowned upon, I have to say that although I have seen it performed on ducklings and cygnets at around 2 to 3 days of age, which is suggested by vets, I felt it was still pretty brutal and the birds involved certainly did appear to show pain and discomfort. I don`t think it is really necessary these days to be honest.
 
It seems that the Chilean flocks at Cotswold WP and Paignton , both of which bred regularly , seem to have stopped for whatever reason .

Another flock which used to breed regularly is the Caribbeans at Whipsnade , though I think it is now a long time since they were last successful .

Caribbean flamingos , bred in Cuba are available from International Flamingo Service . I assume this is the source of the RSCC birds and possibly the recent arrivals at south Lakes .

It is such a shame that the Andean flock at Slimbridge cannot be persuaded to breed . I assume that there are a number of Slimbridge bred birds in the flock , younger than the original founders who were imported I believe in the 1960's . I do not know how many were successfully bred . I wonder if any exchanges with Berlin have been considered .
 
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