Nearly 1,900 flamingo chicks hatched in Turkey's Lake Tuz in 2021

Photos: AA

Nearly 1,900 flamingo chicks hatched in Turkey's Lake Tuz last year, according to official data compiled by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).

Lake Tuz, the second-largest lake in Turkey, is an important wetland where migratory flamingos from around the world incubate. It is also a natural protected area that is home to a variety of plants and birds, as well as insects and mammals.

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According to data by the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, the flamingo population breeding in Turkey constitutes nearly 34 percent of the entire flamingo population in Europe.

France, Spain, and Turkey host the largest flamingo populations in Europe.

Nearly 2,000 flamingos bred and 1,877 flamingo chicks hatched in Lake Tuz last year, and 14,604 adult flamingos were recorded in the area in a single day, showed the official figures compiled on the occasion of the World Migratory Bird Day, marked annually on May 14.

Turkey's Directorate-General for Preservation of Natural Heritage carries out research and fieldwork to learn more about flamingos and to protect endangered species.

As flamingos in Turkey are labeled "partially migratory species," some of them stay in the country throughout the year while others migrate to Mediterranean countries.

Generally found in the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Central Anatolian regions of Turkey, flamingos are also seen in the Black Sea and Marmara regions in small numbers.

Turkey's Lake Tuz and Gediz Delta in the country's west are among the best-known breeding areas for flamingos.

The special environmental protection area in Lake Tuz, which hosts the largest natural breeding colony of flamingos in the world, is home to many bird species for a breeding, wintering, and stopover area.

The western part of the lake, in particular, is known as an important habitat for birds. The flamingo chicks stay in Lake Tuz until they learn how to fly and they leave their nests in the autumn. (VK)