Flamingo diary
Flamingos are one of the most popular animals exhibited in animal collections. If you’re keen to learn more about them and delve deeper in the ways in which WWT keeps its flamingos then follow Paul's diary up-to-date with all things flamingo. Paul Rose is a PhD student from the University of Exeter’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, currently based in the Conservation Programmes Directorate at WWT, who is investigating the social behaviour of captive flamingo flock
A flirty start to 2015!
There's much activity going on with the flamingos at WWT Slimbridge since the start of the new year. Birds seem to be getting right into the swing of things for this year's coming breeding season and the greater and Caribbean flocks have really notched up
13 January 2015
Christmas flamingos 2014
A final post before the New Year. The Slimbridge flamingos have been benefitting from the milder weather this past week or so, with all flocks being able to out and about rather than confined to their indoor houses. Much activity in the greater and Caribb
20 December 2014
A good year for Flamingo Lagoon
As 2014 draws to a close, it's a good time to reflect on the comings and goings in the WWT Slimbridge flamingo flocks. And particularly in the greater flamingo flock that, finally, after much nail-biting in 2012 and 2013 got settled into their new home an
13 December 2014
Birds of a feather...
... Don't always flock together! One of the MSc students that I have had at WWT Slimbridge helping to collect data on two specific groups of flamingos over spring and summer 2014 is off to an animal behaviour conference in London in December to present s
24 November 2014
Wet pink birds
Winter seems to have arrived back with an icy blast and the weekend's squalls of rain have been battering the Slimbridge flamingos from all directions. The flamingos have remained unperturbed however and have been out and about in all weathers; in fact on
8 November 2014
New birds into the lesser flamingo flock
In my last post, I mentioned exciting developments in the flock of lesser flamingos at WWT Slimbridge. At the end of September 2014, five new birds arrived into the group of roughly 40 adults; a welcome addition to this flock that has bred successfully in
26 October 2014
WWT does California. Flamingo stylee
Lesser flamingos in the sunshine in San Diego. The 3rd International Flamingo Symposium was hosted by SeaWorld San Diego in October of this year. This last week has seen Baz Hughes and me travel to the west coast of t
12 October 2014
A quick Chilean interlude
So it's well and truly the end of summer and the crunch of leaves and chilly mornings show that autumn is firmly entrenched. The flamingos are still tending to their chicks and birds are moulting into new plumage, with some of the pens littered with black
24 September 2014
Hundreds of happy flamingos
Having kept flamingos for over 50 years, WWT knows a fair amount about keeping them "in the pink" and in the best health. It is important that the birds are given a stimulating and interesting environment so that they behaviour naturally and life long,
11 September 2014
End of summer arrivals
If the "back to school blues" are imminent and the summer holiday feel like they have ended all too quickly then there's a treat waiting in the South American Pen at WWT Slimbridge to make you smile. Several extremely cute and very fluffy Chilean flamingo
30 August 2014
2014 Breeding Update
There's many a cute Caribbean flamingo chick to be seen wandering around the enclosure opposite the Slimbridge restaurant. With nine chicks raised this year it's been a good one for the Caribbeans. Nesting way at the back of their pen, tucked away and out
12 August 2014
How much is there to know about flamingos?
To answer the title of this post, still quite a lot! Last week, on Thursday 24th, I helped to run a workshop at London Zoo to help advance and further our understanding of flamingo keeping. What helps keep the birds happy in their enclosure? How can we
29 July 2014
It's all go with the Chileans
They've already laid a couple of eggs, so fingers crossed for several more from the Chilean flock this year. If the warm weather continues, it will be another good year for baby flamingos. So it's been hotter than Bar
19 July 2014
Two's company but many is also very good.
Flamingo Lagoon continues to be a delight to sit and watch. The 30 or so greater flamingo chicks that are currently prancing around, getting under the feet of long-suffering parents, are demonstrating lots of lovely natural behaviour that can transport S
5 July 2014
A very special visitor.
Today was a rather exciting day for me at Slimbridge as I took a break from my research and observations of the flamingos to help out with a film crew who wished to film the Slimbridge birds as part of a new TV series. A series that is being narrated by
24 June 2014