The Greater flamingos have laid!
On the 30th March, two greater flamingos laid their one and only egg of the year. This comes with a great sigh of relief for the Aviculturalists due to fears over distrubance caused by the ground works going on in the African pen, and as a result of their needing to breed early before their grand re-location in July. It almost seems as if they are thriving on the disturbance; with lorries on Monday, the removal of the juvenile Caribbeans (surrogate reared in 2011) on Tuesday, screening on Wednesday, nest site building on Thursday, all leading up to those first eggs on Friday... With one of the largest and well proportioned Greater flocks in captivity we always feel the strain when it comes to breeding.
Unlike previous years, the first bird to lay has not been GIT! GNC and GNT laid egg number one, and a young pair egg number 2. At 166.8 and 172g they are of an average size and attractive rounded shape. They have been revelling in the uncharactersitically hot spring sunshine, and have been treating many visitors to full-on marching displays to which the whole Slimbridge site is aware through the sheer volume of noise!
Come down to the Greater pen and see them in action asap!
