Once again this year, greater flamingos chose the Salin d’Aigues-Mortes, with around 8,700 pairs and 4,000 chicks.
600 greater flamingo chicks ringed on Wednesday 2 August 2023 at the Aigues-Mortes salt marsh
Around 150 volunteers took part in the ringing of 600 chicks, an essential stage in the study of flamingos. The operation, organised in partnership with the Salins du Midi, involves fitting each chick with a ring bearing a unique code that can be read from a distance. The chicks, gathered in a “crèche”, are surrounded by the participants and taken to an enclosure where they are ringed, weighed and measured. After being handled for just a few minutes, each chick is released into the pond where it joins the rest of the crèche that has not been captured. Ringing flamingos in no way alters their subsequent behaviour. Numerous studies have shown that neither survival nor reproductive success is affected by wearing a ring.
A long-term scientific programme
Ringing is part of a study programme that began when the Tour du Valat was set up in 1954, and has been strongly structured since 1977. Every year since then, the Tour du Valat has fitted several hundred flamingo chicks with rings that enable each individual to be identified and tracked.
These observations now constitute a database that is unique in the world, enabling conservation measures to be put in place that are adapted to the local context and the needs of the species. These emblematic birds, which depend on shallow brackish and saltwater lagoons, remain a vulnerable species, as most of the wetlands on which they depend are under threat.
Adopt a greater flamingo to protect Mediterranean wetlands!
To raise awareness of the need to preserve wetlands, the Tour du Valat has chosen the mythical Greater Flamingo as its emblem.
“Adopt a Flamingo” on the www.monflamant.com website is a unique and fun way of sponsoring greater flamingos. The aim is to raise funds to contribute to the study and preservation of greater flamingos in wetlands. The Tour du Valat is offering individuals the chance to sponsor a greater flamingo in their own image for between €25 and €100, depending on the option they choose: adopt one of our mascots, find a member of one of our four families – Aphrodite the loving mother, Marius the Camargue grandfather, Romane the expatriate daughter, Indiana the adventurous father and many more. You can even choose a flamingo according to age, sex… and give it the name of your choice. Corporate sponsorships are also available.
