Every year 15,000 flamingo couples breed in Turkey’s wetlands.

The number of flamingos in Turkey has reached a record number, with 16,000 juvenile flamingos now residing at Tuz Lake alone thanks to the heavy rainfall over the winter.

“This number has been the largest baby population among West African and Mediterranean countries. The water overflowed from dams and made it possible for flamingos to breed in Tuz Lake, which had completely dried out a couple of years ago,” according to Süreyya İsfendiyaroğlu, science coordinator of Doğa (Nature) Association.

Stressing the importance of Turkey’s geographical location for these birds, İsfendiyaroğlu said, “Tuz Lake and the Gediz Delta are the most important breeding habitats for flamingos because they live in salty wetlands. Every year 15,000 flamingo couples breed in Turkey’s wetlands and more than 30,000 flamingos spend the winter in Turkey.” According to him, flamingos should be protected under international conventions.

“Flamingos are a threatened species that can only live and breed in specific areas. But Tuz Lake dried out recently due to bad water policies. Only 5,000 baby flamingos were able to hatch in 2005. This number decreased to 4,000 in 2007. In 2008 most of them died and only 1,000 of them were able to live. These three years Tuz Lake completely dried out due to the insufficient amount of rainfall and water mismanagement. Thanks to the increase in rainfall, 14,000 baby flamingos were counted in 2009.”

İsfendiyaroğlu said this showed the importance of water held in dams for such threatened species. “If some of the water in dams that is used for agriculture is released to lakes this could make a big difference in the birds’ lives,” he said.

(Source: www.hurriyetdailynews.com )