Last week, nearly 50,000 adults and 12,000 flamingo pups flocked to the marshes of southern France, making this year’s migration the largest recorded, Elaine Ganley reports for The Associated Press.
Thierry Marmol, the custodian of the marshy region, tells AP that experts recounted aerial images of the birds. This “historic” population, which includes 25,000 nesting pairs, may be the highest since the region began tracking forty-five years ago, Marmol said.
As Ganley points out, the birds make the annual trip to the Camargue marshes, near the commune of Aigues-Mortes. According to Atlas Obscura, these marshes are bright pink, thanks to their algae ecosystem. The marshes have been used as a source of salt since the Roman Empire occupied France centuries ago.
The AP reports that these birds will migrate further south to Spain, Italy, Turkey or North Africa in search of warmer climates. According to the San Diego Zoo, flamingos are remarkably social animals that can live in teams, called “extravagants,” containing up to tens of thousands of birds.
Frédéric Lamouroux, director of the ornithological park near Pont de Gau, told marseille newspaper La Provence in April that he had seen almost twice the number of flamingos than usual. During the lockdown, rangers had also seen other bird species rarely appearing in the popular tourist destination, such as Plegadis falcinellus, also known as bright ibis.
Couples of male and female flamingos reproduce and nest regularly in pairs, Lamouroux tells Olivier Lemierre de La Provence. Females produce only one egg according to the year, so it is incompatible that the couple protects their eggs from danger. Migratory birds use these marshes as a position to collect, nest and give birth. According to the BBC, pink flamingos are born grey but turn pink as they grow and begin to feed on invertebrates and algae, which give the feathers of birds their characteristic color.
Last week, volunteers marked about 320 chicks with bands that have compatibility around their legs. These markers, scientists from other countries identify birds and track their migration, AP reports.
Although additional studies are needed to verify the theory, some experts suspect that the closure of the COVID-19 pandemic would possibly be related to the record number of flamingo nests this year. Lamouroux suggests to La Provence that the lack of tourists, who regularly descend to thousands in the marshes from April to June, may also have encouraged more birds to settle in the marshes.
“Maybe containment helped make a smart year,” Marble told AP. “It is clear that with incarceration there is no disturbance. There were no planes, no noise.
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Nora McGreevy is a freelance journalist founded in South Bend, Indiana. His paintings have made the impression in Wired, Washingtonian, Boston Globe, South Bend Tribune, New York Times and more. You can access your website, noramcgreevy.com.