The pink flamingo reproduces in Río Lagartos, leaving a beautiful colored trail

The National Commission for Protected Natural Areas report in Ría Lagartos a population of 30 thousand specimens of adult flamingos.

YUCATAN, (September 10, 2021).- At the beginning of the breeding season, the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve registered about 15,000 pink flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) nests and an established adult population of approximately 30,000 individuals.

This species, classified as “threatened” in the Official Mexican Standard 059, is one of the most interesting and appreciated attractions by tourism. The count was carried out at the breeding site known as La Angostura , where the pink flamingo develops its life cycle, said the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Conanp).

The pink flamingos make movements of almost 300 kilometers from their winter sites and areas of concentration in Celestún and Los Petenes , to the breeding areas in Ría Lagartos. Since January, Conanp personnel observed flocks of about a thousand individuals in Punta Manolo, located east of El Cuyo, municipality of Tizimín.

Rain drives away the flamingos

As days went by, the flocks increased to seven thousand specimens, with courtship activities, copulations and nest-building practices, but due to the bad weather they flew to other places, such as Yalmakan, Punta Mecoh and Petén Hu.

During this period, conservation work was carried out, such as restoration of nesting areas, rehabilitation and de-silting of springs, marking of juvenile specimens and monitoring of their movements, as well as the registration of the birth of more than 143 thousand chicks and the girdling of more of six thousand offspring. 

Source: Sipse