That's a lot of birds of each species! Are the White Storks and the Greylag Geese part of the exhibit, or are they wild birds like the gulls that are using the Greater Flamingos' habitat?
@Summer Tanager Actually, not only are the storks and geese wild, but I'm 90% sure the flamingos are wild too, as are the great white pelicans; after all, they're native to Southern Europe, and I saw the latter species flying around, with absolutely NO boundaries!
@JigerofLemuria That birds can fly, doesn't mean they are wild. There are no wild pelicans in that part of Europe and I would assume the flamingo are also captive animals.
As far as I know, the flamingoes here originate from captive stock, but I wouldn't descard that wild flamingoes join the flock occasionally.
But yes, all the pelicans are 100% brought in for and because of Sigean, no wild pelicans exist in those latitudes of the Mediterranean. The pink-backed pelicans are also free-flying.
@lintworm@SivatheriumGuy Yeah, my bad on that. It's just so unusual to see free-flying birds that are still technically captive. Makes me wonder how they keep them from spreading out from there to other places, but perhaps it's because they don't want to leave their idylic pond :3
@JigerofLemuria I would have thought the same thing! I don't know how they would keep fully-flighted pelicans, flamingos, and storks from simply flying away over time! It's pretty amazing!
I think it's mostly feeding oportunism, I recall reading that it isn't strange to find pelicans for time to time in lakes and ponds outside of the zoo's perimeter. When I visited I saw a bunch of pink-backed pelicans flying over the lion drive-thru, going away from the park.
