End of summer arrivals
If the "back to school blues" are imminent and the summer holiday feel like they have ended all too quickly then there's a treat waiting in the South American Pen at WWT Slimbridge to make you smile. Several extremely cute and very fluffy Chilean flamingo chicks have hatched in the last weeks of August and can currently be seen toddling around the legs of their rather mud-stained parents.
Traditionally the last species to breed at Slimbridge, and renown for generally waiting around until later in the summer before producing eggs the Chileans have ramped it up a gear, the same as they did last year, nesting a little earlier than expected and thus making easier work for the avics to look after any new arrivals. Growing flamingo chicks and wet, miserable autumnal weather do not a happy marriage make so it's helpful for all to get eggs appearing as soon as the summer sunshine appears.
There's still some fine examples of flamingo architecture on show too. After the chicks have fledged (left their nest) these mounds generally fall into disrepair and soon begin to resemble small weed-encrusted volcanoes. But whilst there are baby flamingos on them to be fed, kept warm and (most importantly) kept in one place until their legs work properly, the adults will keep tending to these muddy homes, making them bigger and taller by the day. I mentioned earlier that the adults look a bit dirty around the edges. All of this nest maintenance takes its toll on the flamingo's beautiful plumage. But once their chicks have grown and can feed themselves, the adults will moult their feathers into some clean new ones. You will be able to look out for the 2014 parents later in the year when they do moult as you will see they have more white feathers compared to birds that have not bred.
Slimbridge Duckery Warden Phoebe has sent over some really cool photos from "inside the colony" taken during one of the egg checking missions that the avics have to do regularly during the breeding season. Look out for these when they are posted in a future update.
