A very special birthday
This flamingo diary gives you chance to look out for a very special animal at WWT Slimbridge. He's a home-grown bird, hatched in the Andean flamingo flock, and this year sees his 30th birthday.
JAA, hatched in summer 1988, is a tall flamingo with an equally big personality. He's easy to spot because of his size and bright feather colour. He can be one of the most colourful and vibrant of birds in this group.
Got to keep beautiful. JAA keeps his feathers in order.
When I was observing the flamingos for my PhD, JAA was one of my favourite birds to look out for. He always seems to be interested in what's going on. In the lives of the other flamingos, and with the other birds that enter the enclosure. His comparative youthfulness against the rest of this group's age (only JBU, hatched 1999, is younger) meant that he would be lively and on the look out for things to do. Sometimes to the annoyance of the other flamingos around him...
Long and lanky. Not the brightest (male bird JAU at the front of this photo is probably the most colourful flamingo in this flock) but colourful enough to impress. And his stature means JAA towers over the other birds in the Andean Pen.
JAA also has a bit of a temper and can get into some scrapes with his fellow flamingo chums. I often saw him get into fights with the other big male flamingos in the flock; JAK and JAF especially. Fights can look quite brutal if both birds involved are of a similar size, as you can see in the video below.
But, pushiness aside, he's a key player when it comes to the Andeans being ready for breeding. Here he is, in the video below, front and centre of the flock getting prepared for courtship dancing. His size and colour give him influence over the group- those biggest and boldest birds will be the ones that initiate the courtship display and get everyone in the mood for dancing.
Yet it does seem that this cheeky character cannot be contained... even when the birds want to breed.
Who's that picking a fight at the back whilst everyone else is dancing? Hmmm...
"Yay! Nest making. That looks fun. Can I join in too?"
JAA, front right, helps make some of the first scrapes in the mud for the epic nesting attempt of summer 2018.
Until... You just can't help yourself can you? Sigh.
But JAA does have a calmer side, and he has some firm friends in the flock, whilst also being a sticky-beak and a part-time social butterfly. He's often to be seen with close buddies JAC and JAE (birds from the mid-1960s). And they will form a quartet together with older female JAZ.
Here he is, following JAC and leading JAE out of the flock's house. Flamingos that follow together are generally friendly together.
Another casual acquaintance is JBK. Another older female bird, that doesn't really have a specific friend or set of companions in the group. These birds will mix with different partners over time, deciding on a daily basis who to hang around with. So whilst JAA can be pushy and bold, he also has relationships that are important and he will seek out the company of other birds that seem to enjoy his company too.
Flock-mates. Some flamingos have a handful of close buddies. Others, take a more relaxed approach to their relationships.
Finally, I'm really glad to be able to write this 30th birthday piece about JAA. For a few months back in 2015 he wasn't a happy flamingo. It was a worrying time. He had lost his colour and looked quite dejected. With extra care, under the close eye of Phil and Sparky, he pulled around and is now fighting fit.
Quite the turn-around. Whatever caused JAA to lose his colour and zest for life was a mystery. But it's good news. The photo (right) from early summer this year shows a rejuvenated flamingo full of health. He's the tall flamingo looking left in the middle of the photo. A credit to the folks at Slimbridge that look after the birds.
So here's many happy returns to a very special WWT flamingo "chick". And I hope we can be writing another birthday blog post all about JAA in 40, 50 or 60 years time.
