Tiny flamingo chick makes big debut

By Elizabeth Hunter

The first photos have been taken of the UK's only Chilean flamingo chick, born just five days ago.

The young "flamingling" was born late last week at Bird Gardens Scotland, located in Oxton in the Scottish Borders.

It was born to seven-year-old flamingos, Moana and Joy, who were hand-reared at the center by owners Owen Joiner and Mark Halliday - who say they are "very proud" of the first-time parents.

Owen said: "The flamingos we have here hatched seven years ago and they're now physically mature - we had some tentative nesting behavior last year, but we think that was just a practice run.

"Flamingo mating isn't the most gracious of affairs and it's a bit tricky to get the balance of things!

"This year, they nested and had the most amazing, elaborate courtship dances that the whole flock were involved in.

"It's only four or five days old, and within the first month, a lot can go wrong - but the parents are being amazing.

"They were hand-reared, so they have no experience of being reared by a flamingo.

"They're falling back on their instincts, and they're doing a really remarkable job."

The couple's flock hatched five eggs, all of which were taken into an incubator, with Mark crafting ceramic eggs to take their place in the nests.

After around 30 days in the incubator, one of the eggs began to hatch and was quickly returned to its nest.

"Mark is a potter, so he made some ceramic flamingo eggs that we gave to mum and dad to keep them interested in the nest," said Owen.

"When the eggs started to pip, we transferred them back to mum and dad, and it hatched that night."

Mark added: "It was to protect the eggs from crows, or rats, or stoats, or herons, seagulls - all these things can come over and look for eggs.

"We thought we'd be extra cautious and put their eggs somewhere we knew they'd be safe.

"It also meant we could keep an eye on if they were fertile or not - sadly, some of them weren't."

The new flamingling is currently nameless, as it will be several weeks before it is old enough to be sexed - but its parents are doing a "fantastic job," say Mark and Owen.

"We're really pleased that we've managed it this year, and the one baby they're rearing at the moment, they're doing a really good job with," said Mark.

"Instincts have kicked in, and they know exactly what to do.

"They do it in pairs - so when he's off feeding, she's on the egg, and vice versa.

"We've noticed sometimes that when one of them stands up to stretch their legs, their partner goes up to them and chastises them until they sit back down on the egg - it's quite funny to watch."

The couple, who say their flamingo flock is one of the key draws to the Bird Gardens, hope this achievement is the first of many, one which could open doors to further conservation efforts.

Owen said: "It's a real success story.

"We've only been open three years, so for us as a young institution, it will help us get involved with an ever-increasing number of conservation breeding programmes.

"As far as I'm aware, this is the only Chilean flamingo chick in the UK at the moment.

"Flamingos are one of our key attractions - regardless of their status in the wild, they have quite a local following in the community!

"We hope the community will come to visit, celebrate with us, and enjoy the journey of watching this little baby grow up."

And for the flamingos that didn't have chicks this year, they say there's still time before the summer ends.

"We're hoping that the flamingos that weren't successful will try again this year," said Mark.

"Hopefully, there's still enough summer left for them to lay some more eggs - if they do, it will be around three weeks from now."