Flamingo Atlas
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Number 18, March 2011 Flamingo Bulletin of the IUCN-SSC/Wetlands International Flamingo Specialist Group Edited by Rebecca Lee, Felicity Arengo and Arnaud Béchet ISSN: 1680 -1857 This issue of Flamingo was edited by Rebecca Lee, Felicity Arengo and Arnaud Béchet, and was produced with financial support from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). We are grateful to Brooks Childress for his guidance in the preparation of this bulletin, Colette Hall (WWT) for her help with design and printing, and Michelle O’Brien and Peter Cranswick (WWT) for their advice. Citation: Lee, R., Arengo, F. & Bechet, A. (eds.). 2011. Flamingo, Bulletin of the IUCN-SSC/Wetlands International Flamingo Specialist Group, No. 18. Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, UK. Front cover photographs (clockwise from top left): 1. Puna Flamingos Phoenicoparrus jamesi at Laguna Colorada, Bolivia by Omar Rocha 2. Andean Flamingos Phoenicoparrus andinus at Laguna Colorada, Bolivia by Omar Rocha 3. Lesser Flamingos Phoeniconaias minor by Devesh Gadhvi 4. Puna Flamingo chick at Laguna Grande nesting site, Catamarca, Argentina by Patricia Marconi 5. Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus at El Goléa, Algeria by Samraoui Boudjéma Back cover photographs (clockwise from top left): 6. Chilean Flamingo Phoenicopterus chilensis in captivity at WWT Slimbridge, UK by Nick Cottrell 7. Puna Flamingos at Laguna Colorada, Bolivia by Omar Rocha 8. Caribbean Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber in captivity at WWT Slimbridge, UK by James Lees 9. Lesser Flamingos at Sua Pan, Botswana by Graham McCulloch Opinions expressed in articles in this bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Flamingo Specialist Group, WWT, Wetlands International or the IUCN-Species Survival Commission (SSC). About the Flamingo Specialist Group The Flamingo Specialist Group (FSG) is a global network of flamingo specialists (both scientists and non- scientists) concerned with the study, monitoring, management and conservation of the world’s six flamingo species. Its role is to actively promote flamingo research, conservation and education worldwide by encouraging information exchange and cooperation among these specialists, and with other relevant organisations, particularly the IUCN-SSC, Wetlands International, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and BirdLife International. The group is coordinated from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, UK, as part of the IUCN-SSC/Wetlands International Waterbird Network. Aims and objectives ■ Developing and maintaining an active and comprehensive international network of in situ and ex situ flamingo conservation specialists (both scientists and non-scientists) ■ Stimulating and supporting information exchange among flamingo conservation specialists ■ Encouraging development and implementation of conservation action plans for the three species of greatest conservation concern: Phoenicoparrus andinus , P. jamesi and Phoeniconaias minor ■ Promoting innovative conservation approaches and reconciliation of water conservation for people and for flamingos in the context of climate change and predicted water shortage ■ Providing information and advice in support of the programmes of Wetlands International, IUCN-SSC and others that promote the conservation of flamingos and their habitats FSG members include experts in both in situ (wild) and ex situ (captive) flamingo conservation and a wide- range of related fields, including breeding biology, infectious disease, toxicology, movement tracking and data management. There are currently 304 members representing 215 organisations around the world. Further information about the FSG, its membership, the members email list server and this bulletin can be obtained from Rebecca Lee at the address below. Chair Western Hemisphere Coordinator Eastern Hemisphere Coordinator Rebecca Lee Dr. Felicity Arengo Dr. Arnaud Béchet Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust American Museum of Natural History Station biologique Slimbridge Central Park West at 79th Street, Tour du Valat Glos. GL2 7BT, UK New York, NY 10024, USA Le Sambuc, 13 200, France Tel: +44 1453 891 120 Tel: +1 212 313-7076 Tel: +33 (0) 4 90 97 20 13 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Flamingo, Bulletin of the Flamingo Specialist Group, No. 18 Contents i Contents 33 Chott Merouane (Algérie): un nouveau site ii Editorial de reproduction du Flamant rose Phoenicopterus roseus iv Membership summary E. Bensaci et al. 38 Counting flamingos with a mobile phone – Breeding & ringing summaries connecting all the flamingo lakes? M. Iliffe et al. 01 Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus 42 Is ground census of flamingo lakes 03 Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor worthwhile? 04 Caribbean Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber H. L. Morales-Roldan et al. 04 Chilean Flamingo Phoenicopterus chilensis 45 Monitoreo Mensual de Tres Especies de 05 Andean Flamingo Phoenicoparrus andinus Flamenco en el Monumento Nacional 06 Puna Flamingo Phoenicoparrus jamesi Laguna de los Pozuelos, Jujuy, Argentina C. A. Rodríguez et al. 07 Captive populations 48 Fourth simultaneous flamingo census in South America: preliminary results News reports P. Marconi et al. 08 In memoriam of Dr Lindsay Oaks 54 Current population status, trend and distribution of Lesser Flamingo 08 Unusual winter breeding by Lesser Phoeniconaias minor at Lake Natron, Flamingos on Sua Pan, Botswana in 2009 Tanzania 09 Positive news from Kamfers Dam T. E. M. Clamsen et al. 09 Conservation breakthrough in Botswana 58 Population and habitat of the Lesser 10 FSG and social networking Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor in Thane 10 New FSG website Creek, Mumbai, India L. Vijayan et al. 11 New FSG logo 62 A new review of the status of the Caribbean Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber Short reports in the Dominican Republic and Haiti M. M. Paulino et al. 12 Seasonal variation of Andean and Chilean Flamingos in lowland wetlands of central 67 The use of mirrors and artificial nest Argentina mounds to encourage breeding in Chilean M. Romano et al. Flamingos Phoenicopterus chilensis at Colchester Zoo L. McAlpin Articles 71 A new nesting site for the Greater 14 The Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in the roseus still breeds in Dasht-e Nawar, Algerian Sahara and an account of the Afghanistan 2010 breeding season S. Ostrowski et al. N. Bouchibi Baaziz et al . 17 Modification of Dahlgren’s apparatus for crop draining of flamingos Appendices B.M. Parasharya & A. Tere 76 Flamingo-related publications in 2010 20 Bela-Mowana: a lesser known nesting site of flamingos in India B.M. Parasharya et al. 24 Ecology and present status of flamingos at Sambhar Salt Lake, Rajasthan, India: a critical comparison with past records S. Kulshreshtha et al. 28 Population size, daily movements and nesting of the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus at the Sabkhat Al-Jabboul Lake, close to Aleppo, Syria N. Hamidan et al. i Editorial Just over six months ago, I took over from Brooks Childress as Chair of the Flamingo Specialist Group (FSG). He’s not an easy act to follow! And I have to admit being daunted by the task. Fortunately, however, flamingos are a topic for which I have almost endless energy. I first encountered flamingos as a child visiting the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) captive collection at Slimbridge and 13 years later I found myself back at WWT collecting flamingo eggs and monitoring WWT’s captive flamingo breeding programme. It was during that work, observing the complex interactions between parent birds sharing incubation and rearing tasks that I became fascinated by flamingos and my interest has only grown in subsequent years. As well as flamingos, I feel strongly about the importance of information exchange. In 2008, I produced the Flamingo Resource Centre website (www.flamingoresources.org) and over the last five years I have been involved in a wide range of communication and coordination activities, including coordinating an international avian influenza task force for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and working as a regional networker for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. I hope to draw on these experiences in my role as Chair of the FSG. My goals and objectives for the FSG do not differ from those of Brooks and all of my thinking so far has been guided by the excellent Strategic Plan Brooks produced in 2009 to cover the period 2009–2012. As such, the work of the FSG is grouped into four programmes of work: 1) developing and maintaining the FSG network, 2) stimulating and supporting information exchange, 3) taking a leadership role in the development and implementation of actions plans, and 4) providing information to the IUCN-SSC, Wetlands International, Birdlife International, Ramsar and others. Towards the goal of implementing action plans, we are in the final stages of establishing a Small Grants Fund. Currently, the funding available is very limited but we hope to find new donors to increase the number of grants available each year. Projects that contribute to the development or implementation of action plans will be prioritised. To connect with potential donors, as well as raise public awareness and find new opportunities for information exchange, I have established a Facebook page and a Twitter account for the FSG (for more information see the News Reports section). On a similar note we now have a dedicated FSG website (www.flamingo-sg.org). The site includes information