Bank Holiday flamingos!
The weather at WWT Slimbridge today is amazing. And the sunshine is most unexpected but really welcome. There are crowds of people flocking in to see the flamingos, and they always look at their best in this sort of weather (the birds, that is!). Sunshine brings out lots of interesting flamingo behaviour, and lots of things that you can pick up on that tells you what they are doing and why. And it is also a lot more of a pleasant environment to stand around and record what these things are!
A couple of interesting Andean pointers from today. Firstly, the warm weather has brought the flamingos all into the front of their enclosure, which means there have been some very good photo opportunities. The Andeans are a very relaxed flock, as I have mentioned before, and generally take everything in their stride. So their tolerant nature allows for some very close observing!
The bird on the bank at the front of the group is JBB, he of "floating flamingo" fame from a few years back (if you missed out on that, check out the Flamingo Diary from July 2013). JBB is one of the oldest flamingos at WWT and the oldest flamingo in the Andean flock. And he is very unfazed by life in general. But he does like his peace and quiet, so try not to be too loud when you come and visit him :-)
Today, the Andeans have been very obliging and very helpful by standing in a very ordered line of who is friends with whom. So in the photo below, at the front from left to right, we have life-long couple JAY and JAU, then JAE and JAC, then JAF and JBU, and finally JAK and JBC. This certainly makes my job a lot easier!
And to show that is really has been a glorious day... the lesser have gone for a paddle and the Caribbeans have collapsed in a heap! Well, sitting on their haunches that is. A sure way of knowing that it's warm and you have some sleepy flamingos! Enjoy whilst it lasts, folks.
