Flamingos Sighting at Uchali Lake Soon Valley Pakistan

02 February 2019

All Pictures are owned 
All pictures were taken at Uchali Lake Soon Valley

Given Pakistan’s geographic location, we lie at the crossroads of the bird’s migration route. They bring beauty and ecological benefits for our wetlands. One such spot is the triple complex, which consists of the Uchali, Khabeki and Jhalar lakes (Uchali being the biggest lake among covering an area of 950 hectares). The triple complex was declared a Ramsar Site, a wetland of global importance in 1996, giving it the status of a wildlife sanctuary.

I visited Uchali Lake, earlier in the month of February. The boatman told us that there were around four hundred plus flamingos on lake. Watching flamingo flying and recording it with camera was one of the best experiences of my life.

With their pink and crimson plumage, long legs and necks, and strongly hooked bills, flamingos cannot be mistaken for any other type of bird. These beauties have long fascinated people. An accurate cave painting of a flamingo, found in the south of Spain, dates back to 5,000 B.C. Today, images of flamingos are found in the literature (Alice used them as croquet mallets in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll) and immortalized as plastic lawn ornaments

The flamingo’s pink or reddish color comes from the rich sources of carotenoid pigments (like the pigments of carrots) in the algae and small crustaceans the birds eat. We eat carotenoids, too, whenever we munch on carrots, beets, and certain other veggies, but not enough to turn us orange! American flamingos, a subspecies of greater flamingo, are the brightest, showing their true colors of red, pink, or orange on their legs, bills, and faces.

In order to fly, flamingos need to run a few paces to gather speed. This speed is not related to the ground but rather to the air, so they usually take off facing into the wind. In-flight, flamingos are quite distinctive, with their long necks stretched out in front and the equally long legs trailing behind. Their outstretched wings showcase the pretty black and red (or pink) coloration that, with slight variations, is shared by all flamingo species. When flying, flamingos flap their wings fairly rapidly and almost continuously. And, as with most other flamingo activities, they usually fly together in large flocks. The flamingos follow each other closely, using a variety of formations that help them take advantage of the wind patterns.

Flamingos are social birds that live in groups of varying sizes, from a few pairs to sometimes thousands or tens of thousands. Their numbers add to the impressiveness of ritualized flamingo displays; the purpose of these displays is to stimulate hormone production and ensure that as many birds as possible will breed.

Head-flagging: Stretching the neck with head up high and rhythmically turning the head from side to side.

Wing salute: Showing off the contrasting colors with the tail cocked and the neck outstretched.

Twist-preen: The bird twists its neck back and appears to preen its feathers with its bill quickly.

Marching: The large, tightly packed flock walks together as one, before switching direction abruptly.

Flamingos also use vocalizations and these displays to communicate between individuals or alert the group of possible danger. Their vocal repertoire includes growling, low gabbling, and nasal honking.

Scientists aren’t sure. There is less heat lost through the leg if it is tucked next to the bird’s body; however, this behavior is also seen in hot climates. Another explanation is more mundane: it’s probably a comfortable position for standing. You can develop your own theory about this age-old question on your next visit to the Zoo or Safari Park, where the flamingos are always gorgeous and entertaining.

Flamingos live in lagoons or large, shallow lakes. These bodies of water may be quite salty or caustic, too much so for most other animals. In some lakes, their only animal “neighbors” are algae, diatoms, and small crustaceans. That works in the flamingo’s favor, as the birds dine on these small creatures!

Chilean, Andean, and puna flamingos are found in South America; greater and lesser flamingos live in Africa, with greater also found in the Middle East; the American or Caribbean flamingo is native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and the northernmost tip of South America.

Long legs let flamingos wade into deeper water than most other birds to look for food. And speaking of food, flamingos also have very distinctive eating habits. The bill is held upside down in the water. Flamingos feed by sucking water and mud in at the front of the bill and then pumping it out again at the sides. Here, briny plates called lamellae act like tiny filters, trapping shrimp and other small water creatures for the flamingo to eat.

The smaller puna, Andean and lesser flamingos have deeper bills and stiff lamellae. This helps them filter very fine particles, such as algae, through their bill and keep bigger particles out. Greater and Chilean flamingos are larger and feed mostly on invertebrates such as brine flies, shrimps, and mollusks. They get these food items from the bottom mud by wading in shallow water. Sometimes they swim to get their food and sometimes by “upending” (tail feathers in the air, head underwater) like ducks.

More than 700,000 guest birds started arriving in Pakistan through Indus Flyway, from Europe, Central Asian states, and India. Pakistan's wetlands are no exception to hosting enormous biodiversity of migratory birds and some indigenous fauna. Each year, hundred of thousands of birds including cranes, geese, ducks, swans, and waders migrate between their breeding grounds in the north and wintering grounds in the south.

These birds include some of the magnificent species such as demoiselle cranes and Eurasian cranes. Among them, the central population of Siberian crane migrated until its extinction in 2002. Its western population, migrating between Iran and Russia, is at the brink of extinction, while its eastern population migrating between China and Russia is threatened with alterations in its habitat that might be massive due to planned dams, official sources in Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) told APP. The migration journey starts from Siberia to Pakistan and ends in India at Bharatpur. This route is known in the international migration routes as `Indus Fly-way No 4' or `Green Route', he added.

The distance covered by birds during migration is around 4500 kilometers. The migratory bird flies from Siberia to Afghanistan, Karakorum range, across river Indus in Pakistan, and finally towards India. During their journey, the birds make stopovers at lakes and water basins at Nowshera, Tanda Dam in Kohat, Swat, Chitral, Punjab, and at Haleji, Keenjaar, and Lungsee lakes in Sindh. The Wildlife Department, he said has taken a number of measures to contain hunting of migratory birds and in this regard, work was done on organizing communities along with river Kabul and Indus.

"Earlier, before 1970 there was no rule for the protection of migratory birds. However, after Ramsar Convention in Iran and Bonn Convention in Germany, laws to protect migratory birds were enacted". About reasons behind migration, he said cold weather compel the birds to move towards warmer areas, adding these birds have inherited a natural phenomenon of moving from one place to another for reproduction purpose.