WWT has been working with partner organisations to halt the decline of the one of the world's most spectacular birds, the Lesser Flamingo.
Since 2002 the WWT research team has been working with the Department of Ornithology, the Baringo and Koibatek County Councils, the Earthwatch Institute, and the National Musuems of Kenya based at Lake Bogoria to satellite track seven flamingos. The satellite tracking has identified sites used by the Lesser Flamingo in East Africa so they can be protected and conserved.
The project has focussed on the lakes in the Great Rift Valley where the largest population of Lesser Flamingos can be found. Seven of the birds were fitted with satellite transmitters in order to identify which lakes and wetlands they use. The results of this study has provided a basis for a conservation action plan that is currently being developed.
Background
Little is known about the Lesser Flamingo, not even their numbers are certain but it is thought that the population has dropped by at least 20 per cent in the past 15 years and now stands at between two and four million. The Lesser Flamingo’s dependence on a limited number of breeding sites has meant that it is classified by the World Conservation Union as ‘near-threatened’. In the past 30 years the east African population is known to have bred successfully only at Lake Natron in Tanzania and it is feared that a catastrophic event there would put the species in jeopardy.
For nearly a decade they have perished in large numbers, leaving the shores of African lakes littered with mountains of pink carcasses. Tests on dead birds have revealed traces of heavy metals including zinc, copper, lead, mercury and cadmium, although most die offs are thought to be caused by disease outbreaks and poisoning by blue green algae.