"Pink" bow in Molentargius for the birth of the new flamingo chicks .
Also this year the pond overlooking the Golfo degli Angeli – delimited by the urban expansion of the Municipalities of Cagliari, Quartu Sant'Elena, Selargius and Quartucciu – hosted the long-awaited nesting , which has now become a tradition . And in the park you can already see the newborns taking their first timid steps under the watchful eye of ornithologists and experts. The event has been happening for 30 years, since 1993. "Since then their presence in spring has become a constant", says Luisanna Massa, biologist of the Molentargius Natural Park .
«We had a peak in attendance in 2017 with around 26,000 couples . Then the number stabilized and is decreasing, also due to the natural erosion of the banks. This year the colony began to settle in early April . The first eggs arrived after about 10 days and the last ones are expected to hatch around June 15th », explains the biologist.
The miracle of life in the heart of the oasis takes place in conical mud nests in which a single egg per couple is laid. Both parents incubate in turn and hatch after 28 days. «The chicks are initially covered with a mud-colored down to camouflage themselves and remain close to the nest for about a week. After that - continues Massa - they group in "kindergartens" which are controlled by some adults. Each couple recognizes its own chick and feeds it with a secretion produced by the goiter. The flamingos will take on the characteristic color later, when they begin to feed on brine shrimp , a small crustacean rich in carotenoids."
The first flight takes place at the end of the third month. Many remain in Molentargius, while others are dispersed in the Mediterranean basin. Witnessing migrations i GPS installed on the specimens. Just before taking off, however, ringing takes place, which consists in affixing – on the legs of the flamingos – a PVC ring and a metal one. On the devices there are codes that allow observers to reconstruct the movements and life stories of each individual.
And even if for now the hatching has been a success, it is impossible to count the newborns at the beginning of the season. «Cross-checks are made by ornithologists who – with the help of drones – count the colonies, nests and chicks. Not only the number of nesting pairs is important, as the chicks are subject to very strong predation by the herring gull. We have to wait for the numbers», concludes Massa.
But flamingos in this period are not the only ones waiting for the eggs to hatch . In fact, in the heart of the park there is a heronry , nesting site for 4 different species of herons: egret, cattle egret, night heron and squacco heron.