Greater Flamingo
| Greater Flamingo | ||||||||||||
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Greater Flamingos in Maharashtra , India |
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| Phoenicopterus roseus | ||||||||||||
| Pallas , 1811 |
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The greater flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus ) is a species from the flamingo family (Phoenicopteridae). It occurs in parts of Africa , Asia and southern Europe .
Greater flamingos breed in colonies with a large number of individuals on flat islands on extensive, flat, muddy beaches on salt lakes or bays. Suitable locations must offer protection from disturbance and the intrusion of predators while providing access to food grounds. Due to these high requirements, the number of internationally significant breeding colonies is no more than 30 worldwide.
The worldwide population is estimated at around 500,000 individuals, of which around 90,000 are found in Europe. Due to a lack of data, no global population trends can be given for this species. In the Camargue, one of the most important European breeding areas, the number of breeding pairs from 1947 to 1960 never exceeded 4,000; since the beginning of the 1990s, more than 10,000 breeding pairs have been breeding there. However, the stock fluctuates very strongly every year. In 1999, 11,000 pairs brooded, compared to 22,200 in the following year.
Since the 1980s, greater flamingos have also been observed in Europe in regions where they are usually not found. These are the north of France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. These greater flamingos were and are associated with Chile and Cuba flamingos, which are certainly refugees from captivity . The origin of the greater flamingos is unclear. Since wild greater flamingos are rarely observed more than 500 kilometers north of the Mediterranean coast, it seems certain that the originally observed greater flamingos are also refugees from captivity. In the Zwillbrocker Venn on the border between Germany and the Netherlands, greater flamingos have successfully raised their offspring. It is the northernmost breeding colony of this species.
description
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The greater flamingo is the largest species of flamingo, on average 120-140 cm tall (of which the legs alone make up 40-50 cm). On average, males are slightly larger and heavier than females. Adult males have an average wing length of 43 centimeters and weigh 2.7 kilograms. Females have a wing length of 40 centimeters and weigh 2.1 kilograms.
The plumage of adult birds is predominantly pink-white, the wing covers are red and the wings of the hand and arm are black. The legs of fully grown Greater Flamingos are completely pink. The beak is pink with a sharply defined black tip. The shape and extent of this black coloration varies from person to person. It is believed possible that young birds can recognize their parent birds by the shape of the black beak tip.
Downy boy and development into old age dress
The dune dress of newly hatched Greater Flamingos is short and dense. The top of the body is light gray and the underside of the body is whitish. The reins are bare. At this point in time you are about 22.5 centimeters long and weigh between 73 and 98 grams. After about four weeks a second, then dark gray, downy dress develops. The first youth dress develops from the sixth week. The legs of the chicks are very short at first, which makes the young look like goslings. Until the end of the second week of life, the beak is still short and straight. Only then does it begin to curve downwards. The beak is initially bright pink with a black tip, later it becomes dull and gray.
The plumage typical of adult individuals is only achieved after several years. Fledglings and subadult birds differ from fully grown birds in a number of characteristics. Most pink flamingos do not develop their bright pink legs until they are 40 months old. Young birds have black or gray legs, pink tones only appear on their legs from the age of 20 months. A similar age characteristic is the beak base. This is free up to the age of 15 months, from around the 35th month of life it is pale pink and from the 40th month of life it is bright pink.
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Mauser
The moulting of the greater flamingo has not yet been conclusively investigated. According to current knowledge, the course of moulting can differ greatly from population to population. There are differences among other things in the moulting frequency or whether it is a full moult or a gradual moult of the plumage. It has also not yet been conclusively investigated how the moulting period is influenced by the breeding season.
In the temperate climate zone, the swinging moult falls in summer. A full moult would lead to an inability to fly for up to four weeks. This form of moulting is only possible for populations that do not have to reach their feeding grounds by flight. Such conditions are offered by Lake Tengiz in Kazakhstan and Lake Urmia in Iran. In the Camargue, most birds moult their flight feathers one after the other so that their ability to fly is preserved. For a small part of the population, however, a moult has been observed, which leads to a temporary inability to fly.
voice
The call of the greater flamingo is a goose-like roar.
flight
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Greater flamingos usually have to walk several meters before they can get into the air. They can only take off without a run-up if there is a strong headwind. In flight, the neck and feet are extended. The flight altitude depends on the wind direction. When there is a headwind, they often only fly just above the surface of the water, but when there is a tailwind, they fly at great heights. In the air they beat continuously with their flights, only the greater flamingos that land go into a gliding flight.
distribution and habitat
Greater flamingos occur in tropical or temperate climates not far from the great deserts of this world. Their distribution is highly dependent on the availability of food. They collect in brackish water, salt water, or alkaline water, where the few species of invertebrates that eat them reproduce in large numbers. These waters typically become seasonally dry because they are in open landscape types such as deserts or steppes with a high evaporation rate and are typically in a climatic zone where the low rainfall falls between autumn and spring. During periods of drought, the flamingos migrate to more permanent waters such as coastal waters.
Distribution area worldwide
The distribution area of the greater flamingo stretches from the Mediterranean to the east over southwest Asia with Kazakhstan in the north and India and Sri Lanka in the east as the distribution limits. They occur along the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf and from Ethiopia along the Rift Valley to southern Africa. Their occurrence includes Madagascar and extends in a western direction to Botswana and Namibia . Greater flamingos are rarer in tropical West Africa because of the lack of suitable habitats. Deposits are found locally in the coastal regions of Senegal , Sierra Leone , Liberia , Niger , Cameroon , Gabon and the Republic of the Congo , but the largest deposits are found in Mauritania , where they are particularly common along the Banc d'Arguin . In the hotter regions of Africa and the Gulf States, as well as Pakistan and the north-west of India, the greater flamingo is often associated with the lesser flamingo . In the Rift Valley, populations of the Lesser Flamingo are usually larger than those of the Greater Flamingo.
The zoologists Alan Johnson and Frank Cézilly argue that based on new data on the migratory movements of greater flamingos, three subpopulations can be distinguished that are constantly in a genetic exchange with one another. These are the populations in the west of the Mediterranean and in northwestern Africa, the populations in the east of the Mediterranean and in southwestern Asia and the populations in the east and in the south of Africa.
Distribution in Europe
In Europe there are occurrences of the greater flamingo on the Atlantic coast of Portugal (estuary of the Sado and the Tagus ); smaller troops are observed further north but also on the Atlantic coast of Spain. In Spain, the main deposits are found in the area of the Atlantic coast in the wide marshland regions off Huelva, Seville and Cádiz, small breeding colonies can also be found in Castile-La Mancha up to 200 kilometers inland. The most important Spanish colony is in the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra nature reserve . Other Spanish occurrences can be found isolated on the Mediterranean coast ( Cabo de Gata , Alicante and the mouth of the Ebro ). Greater flamingos can also be found regularly in the Balearic Islands , but always in small numbers.
All suitable marshland areas along the French Mediterranean coast are populated by greater flamingos, the best-known breeding colonies are in the Camargue . They occur sporadically in Corsica. Large groups of flamingos can be found on Sardinia; In recent years greater flamingos have also been observed in wetlands in Tuscany and on the Adriatic coast in the Apulia region . On the eastern Adriatic coast they occasionally occur in wetlands from southern Croatia to Albania and Greece. For a long time in Greece they only appeared as random visitors , but they can now be found regularly in large numbers in Macedonia and Thrace as well as on the Aegean islands of Kos , Samos , Lesvos , Limnos and Naxos in the Ambracian Gulf. The wetlands near Larnaka and Akrotiri , Cyprus, are important stopovers for large numbers of greater flamingos during the winter months.
Wild greater flamingos have been found in Germany as breeding birds in the Zwillbrocker Venn nature reserve on the border with the Netherlands since 1986 . Flamingos of various species have been sighted there since 1970, with the first breeding success occurring in 1982. The first young birds of the greater flamingo fledged there in 1993. During the winter months, the flamingos stay in their wintering quarters in the Rhine-Maas Delta in the Netherlands.
Important distribution areas outside of Europe
In Turkey there are large breeding colonies on the Tuz Gölü and Seyfe Gölü . In Syria, the Sabkhat al-Jabbul , a salt lake 30 kilometers southeast of Aleppo, is the most important wetland for greater flamingos in Asia Minor. In North Africa there are important deposits in the Nile Delta and on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Tunisia is home to several breeding colonies. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates each have wetlands where large to very large concentrations of greater flamingos occur. In Iran, 20 wetlands are significant; The breeding colony on Lake Urmia has been particularly well studied . In Kazakhstan, they breed on Lake Tengiz and overwinter in the south of the Caspian Sea. On the Indian half-continent, their main distribution area is in the West Indies, while they predominantly overwinter on Sri Lanka. The most important East African distribution centers are in Ethiopia, but large occurrences are also found in Kenya and Tanzania.
hikes
Migration of adult greater flamingos
Only in the northernmost regions of their distribution area do flamingos migrate, which can be interpreted as migration behavior . Twice a year these populations move between geographically separated breeding and wintering areas. Greater flamingos that breed in Kazakhstan, for example, migrate to the coasts of the Caspian Sea in the winter months, while their breeding areas are covered by ice and snow during this time. Greater flamingos can migrate in other regions of their range, but they remain in an area where they can live all year round. Thus, among the greater flamingos living in the Camargue, there are a small number of individuals that cross the Mediterranean every year. Long migrations of such adult birds can be due to weather conditions, a reaction to dwindling food resources or drying up wetlands.
Adult greater flamingos show only limited loyalty to their breeding colony. Breeding site loyalty is correlated with the age of the breeding birds and the breeding success. The movements of adult greater flamingos between the colony in the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra and the Camargue have been studied relatively well. The Spanish salt lake allows breeding to begin earlier than in the Camargue, but does not offer ideal conditions for rearing young birds after dry winters. Ringing data suggest that at least some pink flamingos migrate from Fuente de Piedra to the Camargue if they do not find suitable breeding conditions at Fuente de Piedra.
Migrations of the young birds
Some of the young birds remain in the breeding colony, the rest dismigrate immediately after they have fledged. Such migratory movements play an important role in habitat expansion and habitat exploration for individual species. It has been proven that greater flamingos, as adult birds, use wetlands as habitat outside of the breeding grounds, in which they stayed during the first two years of their life during dismigration. So far, however, only the dismigration of young birds in the breeding colonies in the Camargue and in the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra , the largest Spanish breeding colony not far from Málaga , has been examined in more detail . Thereafter, the proportion of young birds that migrate varies greatly from year to year. There were strong emigration movements in the Camargue after disturbances in the breeding colony had previously occurred.
With the help of ringing finds it was possible to prove that the flamingos occasionally move away from their native colony over several hundred kilometers. For breeding colonies in the northern hemisphere, for example in the Camargue and on Lake Urmia , it has been shown that the migration movement is typically southward. Young birds ringed in the Camargue were found in their first year of life 3,500 kilometers further south in West Africa. However, migrations from the Camargue also occur in a northerly direction. In September 1998, six young birds ringed in the Camargue first arrived at Lake Geneva and then migrated to Lake Neuchâtel , where they stayed until November. In February of the following year, one of the ringed flamingos was again on the French Mediterranean coast.
From breeding colonies further south, young birds migrate in all directions. For breeding colonies located in Tunisia and Mauritania, a northward migration is assumed.
food
Food spectrum
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Like all flamingos, Greater Flamingos have a wide range of food, as both the species composition and the availability of suitable prey can vary greatly depending on the season and the water body used. The prey animals mainly include small crustaceans , mosquito larvae , molluscs and annelids . Within this spectrum there are regionally different preferences. In Europe outweigh anostraca the genus Artemia ; In the lakes of East Africa, mosquito larvae and copepods play a major role. Dependence on only one species is limited to hypersaline waters. In the Camargue, Greater Flamingos almost certainly feed on fifteen different species of invertebrates. Artemia play a major role in the Camargue, but during the breeding season, numerous pink flamingos also look for food in brackish or freshwater, where they do not occur.
Its crescent beak identifies the greater flamingo as a food specialist who specializes in small and numerous organisms. But it also eats larger prey such as fish, nereids and hermit crabs . They catch such larger prey in a heron-like manner. For example, if they discover small fish or hermit crabs that are caught in tide pools at low tide , they run quickly towards them with their necks stretched forward and use their beak like a pair of pliers to grab the prey. Occasionally they feel clams in the mud. The seeds of aquatic plants such as rice are also part of their diet. Both in Spain and in the south of France, greater flamingos go to rice fields in the evening to eat undisturbed during the night. They often don't leave them in the morning until they're chased away. They also eat mud to get at its organic ingredients. This is also indicated by the fact that 80% of all examined stomach contents of greater flamingos contained small stones with a diameter of more than 0.5 millimeters.
Foraging
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Foraging in large flocks is typical for flamingos. The single individual benefits from foraging together because they spend less time looking for approaching predators or other types of disorders. As a rule, however, they do not benefit from better utilization of the available food sources. However, on the salt lakes near Larnaka , Cyprus, Greater Flamingos occasionally forage together in three or four long rows. The zoologists Alan Johnson and Frank Cézilly suspect that the birds in front scare off so many Artemisia that they cannot catch them all, but that they are caught by the birds that walk behind them. Thin-billed gulls occasionally join the greater flamingos and also benefit from the feeding animals that are stirred up.
Greater flamingos travel long distances to their feeding grounds, especially during the breeding season. Like all flamingos, they only breed in places where they are largely undisturbed. Such spots are not necessarily found in nutrient-rich waters, so that they are forced to seek out other waters to find sufficient food for themselves and their offspring. The greater flamingo is considered to be the flamingo species that makes the longest foraging flights. Greater flamingos that breed at the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra are forced to eat in the Guadalquivir estuary and the Bay of Cádiz , which are between 140 and 200 kilometers from the breeding colony, during the breeding season . Flamingos fly into the feeding grounds during the night. They need at least two hours for the distance that they have to cover. Most flamingos stay in the feeding grounds for at least a day and return the next night. In some, however, it has been observed that they break up again immediately after feeding the young, so that at least a smaller number can travel at least 300 kilometers at night.
Reproduction
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A detailed description of the Imponierverhaltens is Article Flamingo section reproduction reproduced .
Like all flamingos, Greater Flamingos are opportunistic breeders in large parts of their range and only breed when they find the right conditions. To what extent the impressive behavior of the greater flamingos, which consists of many ritualized elements, serves to synchronize the breeding mood within the colony, or whether this behavior is primarily aimed at finding a suitable breeding partner, is controversially discussed in the literature. In the Mediterranean area, greater flamingos usually begin to show off their behavior from mid-December and thus long before the start of breeding.
Couple bonding and mating
Greater flamingos, like all other species of flamingo, are serially monogamous; that is, they form a different bond with a partner bird with each reproductive period. Studies in the Camargue have shown that re-breeding with the partner bird from the previous breeding period is a rare exception for greater flamingos. If the first attempt at breeding fails, there is often a pair change within the breeding period. Such second attempts at breeding with a new partner are observed more often for males than for females. This can be due to the fact that the production of the egg is so energy-consuming for the female that she refrains from a second attempt at breeding more often than males.
The point in time at which greater flamingos mate is variable. It can be a few days before the start of breeding, but sometimes relationships exist months before nesting. In the Camargue, the first mated birds can already be seen from the end of December. They stay closer to each other within the squads, fly up together and perform individual elements of the impressive behavior together. This close bond with the partner bird lasts until shortly after the egg is laid. After that, males and females only meet when they break apart in the breeding business. As soon as the young bird has hatched and is still in the nest, both parent birds can again be observed together more often. In the Camargue, the noticeable relationship between two partner birds ends in June.
The mating takes place a little apart from the squad. The male running behind the female signals his desire to mate by touching the end of the back with his beak. The female ready to mate stops or slows down, lowers her head and spreads her wings a little. The male then mounts the female while flapping its wings. The entire act of mating takes no more than six to seven seconds. Mating with individuals with whom there are no couple relationships occur. Unmated males will occasionally attempt to mate with another mated female, and mated males will react aggressively to any males approaching their female. The extent to which mated females actively seek mating with males outside of their existing relationship is not known. Such behavior is known for other colony-breeding and monogamous bird species and would increase the chances of reproduction for the female.
Breeding colonies
In the Camargue, which usually offers annual environmental conditions that allow breeding, the first individuals appear near the traditional breeding grounds weeks before the egg-laying begins. However, these are not necessarily the individuals who successfully raise a young bird. Greater flamingos usually only raise young successfully when a sufficiently large number of pairs have synchronized their breeding behavior. Flamingos, which begin to lay their eggs much earlier than others, usually leave their freshly laid eggs when the large number of individuals who are not yet ready to breed break into the feeding grounds in the evening.
The number of couples willing to breed often exceeds the available space. In these cases there is strong intraspecific competition for the best nesting sites. Some of the breeding pairs resort to suboptimal nesting sites, which are more heavily haunted by predators, for example. Attempts to breed in such places fail in most cases. Since the flamingos displaced to such suboptimal nesting sites are mostly young individuals who generally have a lower breeding success than older birds, it is not possible to differentiate whether it is the suboptimality of the nesting site or the inexperience of the breeding pairs that cause the breeding attempt to fail leads. Young individuals are usually disproportionately involved in the establishment of new breeding colonies. The breeding attempt in the first year often takes place later than is typical for the geographic location and the young birds do not grow up. As has been observed in several newly established breeding colonies in Italy, Spain and Turkey, in later years the eggs are laid in these places at more typical times and young birds are successfully reared.
nest
The nest of the greater flamingo is a small, conical mud mound that usually stands in shallow water and has a shallow hollow on the top. The mound, which is 25 to 30 centimeters in diameter at the top, protects the egg from being flooded by the rise in the water level. The small depression prevents the egg from rolling away. In a tropical climate, the hilltop is also significantly cooler than the surrounding mud. The brood on these small mud mounds also helps to protect the embryo from overheating.
Both parent birds are involved in the construction of the hill. The flamingo sitting at the nesting site scrapes together mud and other materials from the environment with its beak and pushes it towards its body. In addition to mud, small pebbles, mussels, old egg shells and small branches or roots from other plants are also used. The accumulated material is then trampled on. It dries into a hard truncated cone. Since flamingos also use existing mud cones, these cones can reach considerable heights. On some breeding islands in the Camargue, the mud cones are up to one meter high and consist of more than 50 kilograms of built-up material. If Greater Flamingos breed on stony ground, as is the case, for example, at Lake Urmia, Iran, or Lake Elmenteita , Kenya, they do not build hills, but lay their eggs directly on the bare earth.
The density of brooding flamingos decreases the more voluminous the individual nest cones become. At suitable places, due to the strong competition for nesting sites, greater flamingos breed in the depressions between two nest cones. These broods are only successful if the water level does not rise sharply during the breeding season. In the Camargue there are an average of 2.7 breeding cones per square meter. That is well above the global average, which is 1.3 cones per square meter.
Incubation frequency and time of oviposition
One factor that has a major influence on the time at which the eggs are laid is the geographical latitude of the breeding colony. In the Kaolack region , Senegal, some greater flamingos start breeding at the end of November, in Tunisia they breed from the end of January, and at the Laguna de Fuenta de Piedra the earliest broods were observed in early February. In the Camargue, on the other hand, egg-laying falls between the beginning of March and the beginning of May, with a peak at the beginning of April. On Lake Tengiz , Kazakhstan, and Lake Urmia , Iran, the greater flamingos do not lay until the end of May until the end of June. However, individual breeding colonies deviate noticeably from the pattern between geographical location and oviposition. In one of Mauritania's breeding colonies, for example, greater flamingos start breeding in December, but two others do not start breeding until March. High tides at certain times of the year and differences in the availability of food are considered to be the reasons for this.
Annual breeding only occurs in breeding colonies that offer relatively stable environmental conditions. This applies, for example, to the Camargue, but here too the water level influences the number of breeding pairs. In breeding colonies, which are located in regions whose environmental conditions differ greatly from year to year, the amount of precipitation has a considerable influence on whether greater pink flamingos even start breeding. At the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, in Etosha National Park , Namibia, and in Tunisian breeding colonies, sufficient amounts of precipitation in the previous months are a prerequisite for breeding attempts to take place.
The chance that a single young bird will grow up increases the more young of approximately the same age are present in a colony. Greater flamingos therefore lay their eggs largely synchronously. In the Camargue, an egg-laying period of 8 to 74 days has been observed within colonies over a period of 37 years, with an average of 38 days. The reason for the relatively long time span is also that individual breeding pairs break off their attempt at breeding and the abandoned breeding cone is then occupied by a new breeding pair.
Clutch
Eggs are laid both during the day and during the night. During the laying process, the female tilts her body forward and presses her tail downward to prevent the egg from rolling off the nesting cone. If this happens anyway, greater flamingos give up their brood.
Greater flamingos usually only lay one egg. There are exceptional cases in which females lay two eggs and also raise two young birds. Two eggs on one brood cone are more likely to result from two females laying eggs. This can be intraspecific breeding parasitism , as has been demonstrated for other bird species that breed in colonies. Where there is very high competitive pressure for suitable nesting sites, it is also possible that one breeding pair broke off its brood after laying eggs and a second pair occupied the nesting site very quickly.
The egg of the greater flamingo is elongated spindle-shaped. It is greenish white with a chalky white coating that is quite soft and will scratch and get dirty over time. The egg measures 88 × 52 millimeters on average and weighs 173 grams. This corresponds to about 6.8 percent of the body weight of the female.
Brood
The brood begins with the oviposition and lasts about 29 days. Both parent birds are involved in the brood. One or two days after egg-laying, one of the two parent birds leaves the nesting site to look for food. In the Camargue, the absence of one of the parent birds lasts one to four days. The length of the absence is influenced by the availability of food, the ability of the individual bird to ingest food efficiently and possibly also the distance that the flamingo has to travel to the nearest feeding grounds. In the Camargue, weather conditions also have an impact on how long a parent bird stays away. Violent winds, which are more frequent in the spring, prevent the birds from eating in the salt lagoons near the breeding colony.
The replacement of the brooding parent bird by the returning partner takes place without any ritualized elements of action. The returning bird approaches the nest and waits for the brooding one to rise from the brood cone. He then sits down on the nest and moves his body with small side movements until the egg comes to rest under the brood spot , which, like all flamingo species, is only weakly developed.
Development of the young birds
The downy cub takes 24 to 36 hours to hatch from the egg. The white downy chicks are very well developed and only remain in the nest for the first week of life. During this time, they are hoofed by their parent birds . With three or four days of life the young birds begin to stand, from the fourth day of life they wear a gray-white downy dress, the initially pink legs become grayish. From the seventh day of life they are already very active in the nest, pecking at objects and flapping their little wings. From the ninth day of life they leave the nest. The parent birds accompany the young, but no longer row it.
A young bird migrating through the breeding colony is exposed to warning beaks by other, still breeding greater flamingos. The parent birds react to this with an equally aggressive behavior towards adults and young birds. Such behavior only subsides when the young bird joins a crèche at around ten to twelve days old . The young birds that belong to such a gathering are constantly in the water and in inaccessible places in the immediate vicinity of water to protect them from predators and remain close to the nesting site, provided that it does not dry out due to the falling water level. In breeding colonies that are no longer surrounded by water during the breeding season due to falling water levels, they are able to cover considerable distances to reach the nearest body of water. As a rule, they are accompanied by individual parent birds. Young birds remain in the crèche until they are fully fledged.
One or more crèches can form near breeding colonies. The number of young birds gathered in a crèche can be impressive. In the Camargue a crèche with 14,500 young birds was counted in 2000, in the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra in 1998 one with 15,300 and in Lake Urmia in 1973 one with 20,000 young birds. In 1960, the Indian ornithologist Salim Ali estimated the crèche size of the breeding colony in the west Indian Rann von Kachchh to be 500,000 young birds, but this number is viewed with skepticism by some authors.
During the day the young birds are largely inactive and stay together in dense groups. They are fed by their parent birds at dusk and during the night. For a long time it was believed that greater flamingos feed any young bird, but more detailed studies in recent decades have refuted this view. Parent birds find their young in these crèches through vocalisation, pink flamingos also have a very individually colored black beak tip. This could be a visual cue to help the fledglings recognize their parent bird. The parent birds arrive in small and large groups near the crèche, whereupon the tightly packed groups of young birds dissolve and both parent birds and young birds converge. In some cases, the parent birds are able to find their offspring very quickly, while others have to search for them for a long time. Observations in the Camargue suggest that juveniles often stay in the same place in the crèche, making it easier to find an individual juvenile.
Greater flamingos feed their young bird with crop milk , the young bird stands in front of the parent bird and looks in the same direction as the parent bird. During feeding, the tip of the beak rests on the lower beak of the young bird. While young birds that have not yet left the nest are fed several times a day, the frequency of feeding drops sharply as soon as the young birds are in the crèche. Some young birds that are in a crèche do not receive food every day. A single feeding of a young bird living in a crèche takes an average of 15 minutes. From the 30th day of life, when their beak is already very developed, the young birds also start to eat themselves, provided the place of the crèche offers suitable food. Feeding by the parent birds ends when the young birds fledge and leave the crèche. There is no agreement in the literature as to how old the young birds are at this point in time. For Lake Elmenteita in Kenya , a range of 75 to 78 days of life is given, in the Camargue they are between 71 and 98 days old at the time of fledgling, the observed median is 80 days.
Breeding success
Greater flamingos are very sensitive to disturbances in the breeding colony. Unusual events can lead to large numbers of breeding pairs in a colony breaking off their attempt at breeding. In 1987, for example, in the Camargue, 3,000 to 4,000 breeding pairs were caught after a balloon drifted through the colony. Seven years earlier, a northern gannet that stayed in the breeding colony for several weeks caused a large number of breeding pairs to leave their nests. The gathering of eggs, too close a photographer's approach, or the unfamiliar appearance of a low-flying airplane can have similar effects.
However, natural influences usually have a stronger effect than disturbances on breeding success. Drastic changes in the water level can be a reason for brooding flamingos to give up their clutch regardless of the breeding progress. Rapidly rising water levels not only endanger clutches, but also young birds. If the water levels drop too much, the colony or crèche is more easily accessible for predators. Rain and strong winds are other factors that either cause greater flamingos to find insufficient food during the incubation of the egg and therefore give up their brood or result in them being unable to adequately feed their offspring. For the Camargue it has been proven that even small changes in the water level have an influence on the body weight of flamingos. This in turn has an influence on the chances of survival of the young birds.
The age of the breeding pair also influences the breeding success. Older breeding pairs have a higher hatching rate than young breeding pairs, but no age-related differences can be found when raising the offspring. The difference in the hatching rate is attributed to the fact that young females in particular give up their clutch more often. It is assumed that young females are more physiologically stressed than older ones due to the oviposition. If there is also reduced food consumption due to unfavorable weather conditions, they break off the brood. The zoologists Alan Johnson and Frank Cézilly point out that such behavior is typical of long-lived species in which it makes no sense for a young individual to rely on the first attempt at breeding for his own survival and thus his long-term chances of reproduction.
Mortality rate, age and causes of mortality
Estimates for the survival rate of young greater flamingos are based on ringing data in the Camargue breeding colony. With the help of the Jolly Seber method , it was derived from re-sightings of greater flamingos that were ringed during their time in the crèche that young birds have an 83.7 percent chance of completing their first year of life from the time they were ringed. Of these, 71.5 percent will complete their second year and 88.8 percent of them will complete their third year of life.
The mortality rate of adult greater flamingos is low, averaging only 3 percent per year. Greater flamingos therefore get very old. The oldest wild greater flamingo was ringed as a young bird in 1957 and found in Sardinia in 1997. He died after a collision with a power line. Greater flamingos that are kept in zoological gardens reach a significantly higher age than their fellow species living in the wild. Greater flamingos in the zoo in Basel were breeding when they were 57 years old. Another greater flamingo that was kept at Basel Zoo in 2006 is known to have lived in zoological gardens for at least 68 years. It was part of a shipment of flamingos that the zoo received in 1932 that only included fully colored individuals. This greater flamingo would have reached an age of more than 70 years. The highest known age to date was reached by a greater flamingo named Greater , who died in January 2014 at the age of 83 in the Adelaide City Zoo.
Natural causes of death
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Extreme weather events are considered to be the main cause of mortality for greater flamingos. Hundreds of dead flamingos after hailstorms are documented from both the 20th and 19th centuries. Extreme cold spells, however, are the best-documented weather events leading to high mortality rates among flamingos. There are reports of a large number of flamingos frozen in the ice for the Camargue, among others from the years 1789 and 1839. The effects of a temperature drop in 1985 on this population are well documented: Around 6650 greater flamingos died when on January 2nd in the Camargue temperatures dropped to −11 ° C and this extreme weather lasted for 15 days.
There are occasional outbreaks of botulism (type C Clostridium botulinum ) in the foraging grounds of flamingos, but flamingos appear to be less ill than other waterfowl. Greater flamingos are susceptible to illnesses caused by influenza viruses belonging to the Orthomyxoviridae family . In 2002 in Hong Kong, among other things, illnesses caused by the influenza A virus H5N1 were detected in captive flamingos . The Newcastle disease can also lead to deaths among flamingos, however, is unknown what significance this disease has in living in freedom Pink Flamingos. The avium Mycobacterium can also poultry tuberculosis trigger for flamingos.
Only a few animal species capture adult greater flamingos. In East Africa, greater flamingos are prey of some eagle species, and marabous occasionally kill breeding flamingos. Spotted hyenas also beat adult flamingos, but a much more common prey of these predatory mammals is the Lesser Flamingo, which is more numerous in East Africa. However, a number of predators find prey in breeding colonies of greater flamingos if these breeding colonies are within their reach. This is occasionally the case after sharply falling water levels. In the Camargue, it is mainly red foxes , badgers and wild boars that have a strong negative impact on the colony's breeding success in such cases. Three bird species have a similar influence on the breeding success, either by destroying or eating eggs, by capturing young birds or by causing such a lasting disturbance in the breeding colony that a larger number of breeding Greater Flamingos give up the brood. The presence of marabous near a breeding colony can result in the entire breeding colony being abandoned. Great white pelicans are a similar disruptive factor , especially at Lake Elmenteita in Kenya. The great white pelicans, which are larger and heavier than greater flamingos, nest on the same islands, causing such unrest that numerous greater flamingos give up their nests. The presence of greater numbers of Great White Pelicans is a relatively new phenomenon. They breed on Lake Elmenteita, since lying in the near Nakuru tilapia have been exposed. The Nakuru lake has no suitable nesting sites for the great white pelicans. For their breeding business, these therefore switch to Lake Elmenteita, where they displace the greater flamingos.
In the Mediterranean basin, it is primarily the Mediterranean seagull that eats eggs and young birds. The seagulls attack flamingos sitting on the nesting site either by approaching them from behind and chopping their knees and thus forcing the flamingos to stand up, or by approaching them from the front, grabbing them by the beak and pulling them from the nest. The agile seagulls then grab either the egg or the young in the nest. The greater flamingos have nothing to counteract these attacks. Disturbances in the colony, in which greater flamingos briefly leave their nest, are also used by the Mediterranean seagulls to steal eggs and young birds. In a similar way, black-backed gulls hunt for greater flamingos in the Spanish national park Coto de Doñana .
Influence of man
In Europe, the hunt for greater flamingos is no longer permitted. One of the last European countries to allow this was Spain. In some countries of their worldwide distribution area, the hunt for the greater flamingo is still permitted, and in some regions they are also hunted illegally. Flamingos are indirectly victims of the hunt. Like ducks and geese, they also ingest lead ammunition while foraging and therefore occasionally die of lead poisoning. Collisions with power lines are another cause of death. There are also occasional aircraft collisions in the south of France, as two large airports are located near the feeding grounds and the breeding colony.
Existence and endangerment
Greater flamingos are considered to be a species that is not endangered worldwide. Overall, the population is considered stable, the decrease in the number of populations in some regions, such as East Africa, is offset by the increase in other regions. Europe is one of the regions with an increase in breeding pairs. Smaller breeding colonies in Spain and Italy were newly established. At the same time, of the 35 breeding colonies that were considered to be of international importance due to the number of breeding Greater Flamingos, one is no longer usable for the flamingos after being drained and in six others there have been no breeding attempts by Greater Flamingos for at least twenty years. Because of their dependence on relatively few breeding colonies, pink flamingos are therefore under observation. Greater flamingos are listed in Appendix II of the Bern Convention and in Column A of the Agreement for the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterfowl . The inclusion of greater flamingos in such protection agreements is also important because in a third of the breeding colonies the colony either lies directly in a saltwater saline or the breeding flamingos seek their food there.
The greatest threat to greater flamingos today no longer comes from hunting or the collection of eggs, but from the loss of suitable habitats. Some bodies of water, which are important either as breast cells or feeding grounds, are now endangered by pollution ( Lake Nakuru and Tuz Gölü ), such as Lake Natron, for example, are more exploited because of their resources, or the water level is high , as in the Etosha Pan, due to the construction of dams influenced or influenced by siltation as at the Lake of Tunis .
Wherever flamingos are kept, there are always refugees in captivity . In the Mediterranean area, both Lesser Flamingos and Cuban and Chile Flamingos have been sighted in the range. There is a risk here of hybridization with the greater flamingo. In the breeding colony in the Zwillbrocker Venn, which was presumably established mainly by captive refugees, the flamingos repeatedly form mixed breeding pairs.
Greater flamingo and human
Correlation
In southern Spain there are cave drawings dating from around 5000 BC. And represent flamingos. Numerous images can also be found in Punic , ancient Greek and Byzantine art as well as on ceramic vessels found in Gerzeh . Egyptian hieroglyphics occasionally use a flamingo symbol to symbolize the red color.
The hunt for the greater flamingo is believed to have had a significant impact on the population and distribution of flamingos. The tongues of flamingos were considered a delicacy in the Roman Empire and Babur , the founder of the Mughal Empire , is said to have eaten flamingo eggs for breakfast. They were collected for him on Lake Ab-e-Istada in Afghanistan. However, suggestions on how to prepare flamingos can also be found in early French, Spanish and Italian cookbooks. In Spain, the greater flamingo was hunted intensively in the Guadalquivir marshes back in the 1960s.
Protective measures
Numerous breeding colonies, especially in the northern Mediterranean area, are now guarded in order to prevent humans from getting too close to the breeding pairs that are sensitive to disturbance. The practice of collecting flamingo eggs for human consumption has been uncommon in Europe for more than half a century. For other regions, however, there are indications that this was still practiced in the second half of the 20th century. Greater flamingos are considered to be the flagship species , and a lot is done to protect them. For example, in the Camargue saltworks, measures are being taken to preserve the flat islands in the salt marshes where the flamingos breed. At the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, water is artificially channeled into the lake so that the young birds have a small pond in which they can swim and drink. Several wetlands have also been expressly placed under protection because of their importance for greater flamingos. These include the Camargue Regional Nature Park , the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra and the Djoudj National Park in northern Senegal.
Conflicts
The increasing population of greater flamingos in the northern Mediterranean region has led to concerns that the greater flamingos, through their foraging, have a negative impact on underwater vegetation, which is an essential food source for wintering ducks . Operators of breeding facilities for fish complain that the greater flamingos cloud the water through their foraging and thus negatively influence the amount of fish that can be fish. Both concerns may be justified, but not yet proven. However, the damage suffered by rice farmers from flamingos has been proven.
Greater flamingos were first observed in the south of France in the spring of 1978 looking for food in freshly sown rice fields. In 1980, thousands of flamingos were already gathering in the rice fields to eat. Greater flamingos showed this behavior for a period of five to six weeks until the rice plants had reached a height of five to six centimeters. As early as 1980 they destroyed the plantings on an area of 450 hectares, around 10 percent of the rice cultivation area. Destruction of rice fields by flamingos is a relatively new problem and is attributed to changes in cultivation methods. In the past, rice was initially sown on areas that were less than one hectare in size and where flamingos did not come to eat because of their small size. The young plants were later transplanted into larger rice fields with great manual effort. This practice changed in the 1970s. The rice was then sown directly in fields between three and seven hectares in size and competing plants suppressed with herbicides. Trees and hedges were removed in the vicinity of the rice fields to enable fertilization and herbicide application by helicopter. This redesign created areas that have aspects similar to the extensive marshes where flamingos have always foraged. Since the 1990s, the problem of the pink flamingos destroying rice fields has not only been limited to southern France, but also occurs in the Ebro estuary . To defuse the conflict, a number of measures have been taken to scare the greater flamingos out of the rice fields.
supporting documents
literature
- Josep del Hoyo et al .: Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, 1992, ISBN 84-87334-10-5 .
- Joop Treep, Dietmar Ikemeyer: Flamingos in the Zwillbrocker Venn . LÖBF reports 2006/3: 12–16.
- Alan Johnson and Frank Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . T & AD Poyser, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-7136-6562-8
Web links
- Greater Flamingo Videos (English, Internet Bird Collection)
- Feathers of the greater flamingo
- Phoenicopterus roseus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
Single receipts
- ↑ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 12.
- ↑ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 76 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, pp. 281 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, pp. 281 f.
- ↑ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 31.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 161.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 159.
- ↑ Collin Harrison, Peter Castell: Young birds, eggs and nests of birds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 2nd Edition. Aula, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89104-685-5 , p. 57.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 25.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 26.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 27.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 69.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 101.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 70.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 71.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 71.
- ↑ Everything you always wanted to know about flamingos ... at Biological Station Zwillbrock.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 99.
- ↑ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 98 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 95.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 97.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 93.
- ↑ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo , 2007, p. 94 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 113.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 114.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 120.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 113.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 119.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 114.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 122.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 121.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 122.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, pp. 129-131.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 135.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 131.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 131.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 132.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 133.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 150.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 151 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 150.
- ↑ Collin Harrison, Peter Castell: Young birds, eggs and nests of birds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 2nd Edition. Aula, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89104-685-5 , p. 57.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 153.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 153.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 155.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 144.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 143.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 148 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 146.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 155.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 155 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 157.
- ↑ Collin Harrison, Peter Castell: Young birds, eggs and nests of birds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 2nd Edition. Aula, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89104-685-5 , p. 57.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 156.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 157.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 158.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 158.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 284.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 160.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 42 and p. 160.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 161.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 161.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 163.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 164.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 165.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 167.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 169.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 170.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 172.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 173.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 179.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 180.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 182.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 181 f.
- ↑ W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 114
- ↑ 83-year-old Greater: Oldest flamingo in the world in Australian zoo died on Spiegel Online on January 31, 2014
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 174.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 174 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 175.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 176.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 176.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 194.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 195.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, pp. 195-197.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 177.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 188.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 188.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 189.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 193.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 193.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 210 f.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 193.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 197.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 198.
- ^ Johnson and Cézilly: The Greater Flamingo . 2007, p. 198 f.