Flamingo diary
Flamingos are one of the most popular animals exhibited in animal collections. If you’re keen to learn more about them and delve deeper in the ways in which WWT keeps its flamingos then follow Paul's diary up-to-date with all things flamingo. Paul Rose is a PhD student from the University of Exeter’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, currently based in the Conservation Programmes Directorate at WWT, who is investigating the social behaviour of captive flamingo flock
Are flamingos really the cleanest?! Even when on one leg...?
Welcome to spring flamingo followers. It’s a great time to pop along and see the birds looking at their best. Especially now that flamingos can be back out and about following the departure of avian ‘flu from the UK. To start, I just want to share thi
9 April 2018
Flamingos- are they owls or larks?
A February flamingo up-date. The cold weather means birds have been kept inside of late, and so they remain toasty warm inside of their houses. Whilst this may seem unfortunate, in that the birds are not out and about in their enclosures, from a scientifi
27 February 2018
Pink personalities for the new year
Welcome to January flamingo followers. In this update I'll fill you in on some happenings in the flamingo flocks and what's been happening over winter. You may be aware that it's avian 'flu season again in the UK and so the flamingos have been kept cosy a
26 January 2018
Christmas flamingos and what happens in winter?
Winter can be a harder time for Phil, Sparky and co as they look after the flamingos in weather that’s not always helpful to complete flamingo happiness. Birds may be indoors and pools iced over, meaning flamingos might be spending less time outside. To
14 December 2017
Facebook for flamingos and what if they could tweet?
As 2017 draws to a close, it's good to reflect on what has occurred in the lives of the WWT flamingos this year and what more we have learned about them. This year seems to have been a whirl of data crunching, paper writing, and project managing. But it's
7 November 2017
Plastic flamingos are good for science
The other evening I found myself back in my old room at my parents' house arranging small toy flamingos (that a friend had bought me as a jokey present). I placed these model birds into groups so that I could take photos of them. You'd probably be right t
1 October 2017
Summer research round-up #2
Greetings flamingo followers. I promised a second update on the flamingo science in the WWT collection this summer, and whilst this is the first day of autumn, I'm not too far behind schedule. In my last post I introduced you to the work of one of my stud
1 September 2017
Summer research round-up #1
As regular readers of the Flamingo Diary probably know by now, I am a big fan of using the WWT birds for science, to make sure that there is a point to us keeping them at Slimbridge and the other centres that house collection birds. As we have so many fla
8 August 2017
Conserving South American flamingos- interview with a scientist
Welcome to July, and some lovely summer sunshine. We love the heat at WWT for it means flamingo breeding season, and the best conditions for rearing strong, healthy chicks. Flamingos adore sunshine- one of the ways of keeping them happy is to make sure th
10 July 2017
Flamingo ninja...!? Science for summer 2017
Hello flamingo followers. At this time of year I normally try and write about the research that students are doing on the WWT Slimbridge flamingos. This year, University of Exeter MSc Animal Behaviour student Dimitrina is observing two flocks of Slimbridg
4 June 2017
May's flamingo fiesta
Hello flamingo followers. May has been an exciting month so far in the world of flamingos. Last week, WWT celebrated a flamingo fiesta on their Facebook and Twitter feeds to share the love of these amazing birds as widely as possible. With eggs in the gre
7 May 2017
The flamingos are back! (part 2)
Hello flamingo fans. Remember in my last post I said that there would be another update this month about flamingo happenings now that everyone is out and about, and really in the pink...? Well here it is. First up, a hugely flamtastic "thank you" to avicu
16 April 2017
The flamingos are back!
It's a very special time of the year for those of you interested in the WWT flamingos and that like to hear all about them, and what they get up to. After the recent weeks of having to keep the birds safe in their houses, several flamingo flocks are now o
4 April 2017
Studying wild flamingos
Hello flamingo followers, March means that it's British Science Week 2017 (https://www.britishscienceweek.org/) and so I have taken the opportunity to interview a high-ranking and very experienced flamingo scientist to give you an experience of what it's
17 March 2017
Birds, romance and being in the pink
The month of Valentine's Day rolls round again, and love is in the air for many in the natural world. For the flamingos, this means sprucing up their feathers, getting on their dance moves and starting some serious flirting. Whilst the birds have been shu
10 February 2017