Aviculture Helps Flamingos

in the Yucatan of Mexico

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th is park in the Yucatan peninsula satisfy the horde of begging flamin The American Flamingo is

that features modern zoo bird go chicks Other zoos sent people good indicator species of the health of

breeding facility scuba diving etc before and after us Along with the wetland and coastal habitats on the

Half of any successfully raised birds Alberto Bach Zaruaz supervisor of Yucatan peninsula including Ria would be released in the wild and the Xcaret bird facility and his staff Lagartos The livlihood of many local

half would go to the captive breed our work was cut out for us It fishermen depends on the health of

ing colony at Xcaret The proposal turned out to be rewarding educa these ecosystems Besides flamingos

took four years from start of prepa tional and satisfying work but no long list of 332 species of birds have

ration to final approval vacation We worked much of the been confirmed so far at the reserve It

Again in 1990 jaguar struck day from AM to after 10 PM tube is vital stopover for birds migrating

The reserve biologist Dr Rodrigo feeding the demanding flamingo between North America and Latin

Migoya von Bertrab and his staff chicks and trying to keep things America Chris Brown bird curator of

discovered jaguar tracks and several clean Everyone should experience the Dallas Zoo coordinates research

dead adult flamingos night watch the sound of many hungry flamingo program at lEa Lagartos involving pen was established to monitor the situa chicks in an enclosed room once in odic banding of the flamingos and tion and to deter the secretive cat their lives study of their ecology behavior phys from returning Some of the eggs turned out to iology and migration Attempts to

It soon became apparent that be infertile some embryos died dur involve the local communities in eco nearly thousand adult flamingos ing incubation some chicks died tourism and school outreach programs were incubating their eggs only dur during handraising About two hun to educate children about the value

ing daylight hours and leaving at dred birds survived We used the of flamingos have begun This nightfall Apparently these birds did Fort Worth Zoo flamingo diet research and flamingo conservation in nt want any part of another noctur warmed and fed to the chicks in general deserves our full support nal jaguar assault Flamingo colonies syringe with feeding tube inserted are sensitive to disturbance and this into the crop The recipe is as fol

of the had under lows It was mixed in blender to portion colony Advertisers gone considerable trauma and dis soupy consistency ruption Index Clearly the eggs were not Silversides 110 0E

to hatch under these circum Krill 80 going AFA Store Inside Front Cover stances so it was decided to remove Cooked yolk 64 4400 egg Amy Worell bVM 53 these partially parent incubated eggs Human baby cereal 29 2000 Animol Bird Clinic 30 for artificial incubation The eggs Ground Mazuri Beautiful New Zealand 51 between and were split Xcaret Ria Flamingo 28g 19o CarolLynn Meissner 55 Lagartos Brewers yeast 16 11o Cele Birds 50 As the eggs began to hatch in Vionate 48 03o Companion Bird Source 34 the incubators the enormity of the Calcium carbonate 24 02o Cuttlebone Plus 47 undertaking became obvious One Water 1125 g771o Bird Mart 31 thousand plus eggs were collected Everybodys CAl Many embryos died during incuba ounces water227 grams Feathered Companions 41 hut tion many were hatching Dr tbsp vitamins 15 grams Gabriel Foundation 19 Migoya von Bertrab asked Chris Hagen RoIf USAPrime 39 Curator of Birds of the Brown In October 2000 51 flamingos Lyon Electric Co 45 Dallas Zoo to recruit American zoo from the were handraising program Magnolia Bird Farm 31 bird keepers and supervisors with released to the wild Thousands of dol Mutations Unlimited 21 to come to handraising experience lars were spent on lab testing the birds On Wings 17 Mexico to help with the overwhelm that were candidates for release and Parrot Society of Los Angeles 50 ing number of hungry chicks only those which were one hundred Pet Air 35 Zoo from all over personnel percent free of pathogens of any kind North County Aviculturists Inc 55 the US began rotating in and out were approved for release The others Sun Seed Inc Back Cover for for tours of that Co duty usually were kept for further study or captive Susan Clubb bVM 41 averaged week or two in length breeding Mr Bach Zaruaz felt that no Birdcare 13 While was there in June Rick chance whatsoever should be taken in The Company

of Fort Worth Laurie TX Parrots 55 Tryan Zoo introducing disease from the captive Burch of Sea World San and Diego flamingos to the wild flock Those Veterinarian Listing 15 Peter Costello of Zoo New England released appear to be doing well and ZooExotic Pathology Service 34 worked hard in valiant to attempt are regularly monitored ZuPreem 33

the afa WATCHBIRD 63