VIDEO. Ringing of young flamingos in Aigues-Mortes: what does this vast operation carried out at Salins du Midi consist of ?

The Salins du Midi site is the only breeding ground for pink flamingos in the Mediterranean basin. To learn more about this species, young birds were ringed this Wednesday morning at dawn.

The clocks don't even show six o'clock and dawn is still only a promise. In the manger 3,000 “babies” are crammed together, gray plumage against light down, beaks already well hooked and legs long and thin. A few adults, dressed in pink, vaguely watch the group.

The ringing operation was carried out very early this Wednesday, August 7 at the Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

In the ponds of the Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes, predators, seagulls, foxes, wild boars may have come to snoop around last night, but at this early hour, everyone seems to have gone home. As for those who arrive across the pond, all decked out in colors, they are adorned with noble intentions. But what does a baby flamingo include with 140 bipeds approaching ?

The ringing operation of the young flamingos took place between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. this Wednesday, August 7 at Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

“We have to move forward slowly so as not to scare the chicks, and gently herd them towards the enclosure, this little corral that you see over there, where we will begin the ringing operation of 450 juveniles”, explains Thomas in charge of one of the 8 groups constituting this large human chain that will encircle the flamingos until they are gently brought into a funnel shape.

The young flamingos are brought into a temporary enclosure, which will allow about 450 of them to be ringed. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

The participants, whether they are employees of Salins du Midi, Tour du Valat, the Camargue Natural Park or naturalists and facilitators of partner associations, were all prepared the night before. Not completely on the slimy side of the ground when you have to enter the pond, to come out on the other side, wet as well as encrusted with salt. Here, the salinity is 110 grams per liter. This is what allows the development of Artemia salina, this small shrimp that flamingos eat. Without extremely fine management of the salt workers, there would be no pond and no flamingos.

Measuring size and weight: before being ringed, young flamingos born at Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes are observed closely. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

“In the 1960s, the flamingo was endangered”, recalls Jean Jalbert, director of the Tour du Valat, this private foundation created 70 years ago by the Swiss billionaire Luc Hoffmann, and which works to preserve the Camargue. “Thanks to proactive actions to enable their nesting, and this site is the only breeding ground in the Mediterranean basin, it has become possible again. But if the species is no longer threatened, it could become so again due to rising sea levels. Hence the interest in knowing it better."

Flamingos born in spring and already a little big, or smaller: the rainfall of the last few months has had an influence on the births at Salins du Midi. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

The spring rainfall has changed the course of births and at the beginning of August, flamingos a few weeks old are rubbing shoulders with a few “grandets” born last May. None of them can fly yet, or feed themselves: papa and mama flamingos come back every evening to regurgitate a little of the contents of their stomachs to feed their chick. In the crèche of 3,000 chicks, they will recognize their own, by their voice. “The rings really allow us to better understand their behavior and their life: we know that on the French Mediterranean coast, there are about 50,000 flamingos in the summer and 25,000 in the winter”, continues Jean Jalbert.Not all are migratory! It is thought that there is a kind of individual component, some are betting on staying, despite the risk of the winter cold, others on leaving for North Africa, despite the energy that the journey will require, and others are rather erratic, without a definitive choice".

The operation is over, the flamingos return to the pond and regroup to reform their “nursery”.. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

The first ringing operations date back to 1977. They allowed us to observe that a flamingo ringed that year was still breeding today, at 47 years old. “When they take on their pink plumage at around three years old, there is no longer anything to distinguish males from females or young from old.” So this little number remains, which ultimately says a lot.

Read also: “She is 20 years old and has already nested several times”: Noémie, a 30-year-old from Nîmes, is the godmother of the pink flamingo “Neoime”

Also tags

The Tour du Valat is involved in a project called Migralion, which aims to provide scientific data on bird migrations as part of the deployment of offshore wind turbines. What impact could these devices have on the flights of migrants, whatever they may be? ? The study brings together the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the CNRS and the Tour du Valat. Antoine Arnaud, head of the “flamingo” team, supervised both the ringing operation on Wednesday and, within this, the more delicate placement of tags on a few birds. “We chose the largest possible juveniles, ready to fly away. The tag emits as soon as it is placed, its operating time can be 3 to 4 years, which will give us valuable information on their journey”, explains the scientist.

The rings, a simpler device, allow observers in France, Egypt, Algeria or elsewhere to locate from afar, using telescopes or binoculars, the passage of a particular “numbered” bird and to report on it on platforms shared by ornithologists. But it happens that ringed birds are not observed. 

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