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The'Flamebirds'of The Great
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
By: Graham McCulloch, Botswana
Botswana could not have guessed that last rainy season would produce more rain
than its people could remember, rains that top the list of the most in recorded
history. While causing large scale flooding and damage and erosion of habitat in
many areas of Central and southeastern Botswana it has, none the less, been a
blessing for most of Botswana's Wildlife. Of all the animals and birds, however,
few have been as quick to take advantage of the recent El Nina downpours, as the
country's most beautiful and mysterious birds, the flamingoes.
Due to the exceptional rains, the salt pans of the Makgadikgadi, which cover
some 16,000 square kilometers to the North-east of Botswana's central district,
were completely flooded. As a result a massive saline lake, bigger than ever
seen before, attracted an amazing number of Greater and Lesser flamingos from
all over southern Africa and maybe from East Africa too. Numbers exceeded
200,000 birds and the flamingoes have been breeding very successfully since they
arrived in January. The Lesser flamingoes were the first to begin their breeding
and by the end of January, numbers reached over 80,000 birds at their main
breeding colony. This is one of the largest breeding colonies of Lesser flamingo
in the whole of Africa, being second in size only to the breeding colony on Lake
Natron in Tanzania. The Greater flamingo began their breeding later but numbers
grew continuously throughout the season/ to become once again the largest
breeding colony of Greater flamingoes in Africa, with numbers exceeding 40,000
individuals.
Graham McCulloch/ a PhD. researcher from the University of Dublin, Ireland,
has been studying the flamingoes that arrive on the Makgadikgadi Pans for the
past year and a half, a project that is partly sponsored by Botswana Ash (Ltd.)
Pty., and has been lucky enough to witness a year with such exceptional rains
and corresponding numbers of flamingo in its shallow waters. The amount of
flooding on the pans determines the suitability of the pans for flamingo feeding
and breeding success. It is not uncommon for tens of thousands of chicks to
perish when the waters recede early in the dry season and dry out completely
before they have fledged and can leave with the adults to their winter-feeding
grounds. However this year is proving to be a very valuable breeding season for
both species of flamingoes and will help increase their population at a time
when in other places, like East Africa, the Lesser flamingo, in particular are
suffering devastating losses, due to a recent occurring killer disease.
The Makgadikgadi is also witness to some threats to the flamingoes, as they
feed and breed in its shallows. There have been low flying aircraft in the area,
which are unaware of the vulnerability of the flamingoes to disturbance, while
on their nests. It is important that they are made aware of the importance of
the breeding sites and are kept clear from low level flying. Other threats to
the chicks and adults are Vet Fences that jut out onto the pan surface and cause
adult mortalities and chick migration obstruction. A project is currently under
way, with the Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) and the Flamingo Primary
school, to make one such fence 'flamingo friendly', by using aluminium cans as
reflectors, which are made and hung on the fence by the pupils.
Graham has recently received funding to place satellite-tracking devices on
some of the flamingoes before they leave Botswana, when the pans dry up. These
devices will track the migration of the flamingoes and tell us where our birds
go and spend the winter months before returning once again when the rains flood
the pans once again.
For more information E-mail: gmcculloch@info.bw or
contact the Kalahari Conservation society, Botswana.
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