Home improvements = happy flamingos #2

19 December 2015

It's nearly the festive season flamingo followers! And I hope that you are all ready for the main event. The mild weather (I really want some snow! Does anyone else?!) means that the birds have not been put to bed as much as normal, nor are having to be shut away against any cold, gusty winds and the threat of ice. As such, there's a lot of festive flamingo activity to be had at WWT Slimbridge.

Back in October, I talked about some alterations to the flamingo's enclosures at Slimbridge and I left you with the snippet that more was to come. And so this is what I will finish explaining in this post. It's more stories of the heroics of the avics and how they work so very hard to keep their birds as happy as possible.

So to start off, flamingo feet and baby chicks (for the future!). We like to use sand for the birds, as I have mentioned before, and over the past few weeks the various flamingo enclosures at Slimbridge have been remodelled and re-fashioned for more flamingo creature comforts. Sand keeps their feet in the best condition we can hope for, and makes for clean and comfortable nests for the next breeding season.

It's takes a trailer-full! This top quality estuary sand needs a lot of effort to get it in place!

The Caribbean Flamingo Pen has undergone a major refurbishment, probably the first since the whole of the visitor centre area was redeveloped for the Millennium project in the late 1990s. Vegetation has been cleared away to allow more direct sunlight into the enclosure (flamingos really benefit from as much access to direct sunlight as possible), the waterways have been dredged and de-silted, banks have been remodelled and made more gentle to allow access for small legs when there are chicks around, and the middle of the "beach" has been extended to give the birds more room to relax and rest.

Sparky thinks that around 140 tonnes of silt where removed from the enclosure, which is around 46 dumper truck loads! Let's hope the birds appreciate the hard work :-) The photos below are thanks to Sparky who sent them over. And who doesn't love a good digger!?

That's a lot of mud. When you've kept flamingos since the start of the 1960s, you get a lot of waste build up!

Work over several days to remodel and restructure some of the important parts of the Caribbean Pen for the benefit of the flamingos. Even if they did have to wait inside and be patient during the digging. Flamingos and heavy machinery don't mix!

So what does the finished product look like...?

From above. You can get really stunning views of the Slimbridge grounds and reserve from the Sloane Tower Observatory. You can see the changes made to the Caribbean Pen to give the birds more space, more light and more areas to hang out. — From above... You can get really stunning views of the Slimbridge grounds and reserve from the Sloane Tower Observatory. You can see the changes made to the Caribbean Pen to give the birds more space, more light and more areas to hang out with their pals.

What can you see from high above? Merging several small islands into one larger land area gives the flamingos more useful space. The bird flapping its wings shows where a lot of re-modelling has taken place.

From closer, you can see that there is new fencing at the back of the enclosure and Phil, Sparky, Duane and co. have worked hard to make changes for the benefit of the birds. There is past research from around seven or eight years ago that shows how much flamingos like sunshine. And by clearing out thick shrubs and removing trees that over-shadow the Pen, the flamingos will enjoy more rays. Especially as these Caribbean flamingos are birds that naturally occur in areas where there is a lot of intense sunlight.

Breeding success in the Caribbean flamingo flock has been excellent in 2015 (you can see a pile of young'uns to the left in the photo below). The flamingos like to nest at the back of the enclosure, and you can see where this has been altered, enlarged and re-fenced to make the birds feel more secure and to help Sparky and the other avics enter and leave the Pen when they collect eggs and check on chicks.

Lovely fresh sand for the Caribbean flamingos. The back of their enclosure has been tidied up to improve conditions for the birds, help with nesting an improve keeper access.

You can get a good idea of how smart the Caribbean Flamingo Pen looks in the photo below, when the birds had to be housed inside during the renovations. They have a lot more dry, clean space on land than they did before. And the re-shaping and re-edging of the ponds will help in the coming breeding season. What lucky flamingos :-)

Looking so clean. Whilst work in the Caribbean Pen was carried out, the birds were kept in the warmth and safety of their house.

So it's been something of a make-over for the Caribbean flamingos, but the other flocks have not been left out. New sand is being delivered and distributed and the other flamingo pens now look smart and clean in time for Christmas. It's almost as if a beach-loving Santa Claus has dropped in! With much activity in the lesser flamingo flock over this year gone, here's hoping that enriched and revived landscaping puts the birds in the mood for 2016. They are certainly starting to look very bright and pink around the edges again...

Will this new sand mean nests in summer 2016?! Here's hoping!

And speaking of bright and pink, the Caribbean flamingo flock has undergone a dramatic colour change. They look especially good in the winter sunshine. Check them out in the afternoon when they get fed and come pretty close to the front of their enclosure. See the final photo of this diary.

So as 2015 moves to a close, this is a Merry Christmas from me and I hope that you have enjoyed all of the pink bird updates from this year. I am sure there will be many more to report on in 2016. Have a happy and peaceful festive season.