Around 60 thousand chicks emerge from new nesting ground of lesser flamingos

Context

• After the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), lesser flamingos have found a new exclusive nesting ground in Kuda stretch of the Great Rann of Kutch (GRK) from where around 60,000 chicks have emerged this season.

Flamingos and their nesting sites

• India has two flamingo species – the greater and the lesser flamingos.
• They feed on benthic animals – those living on the bottom of oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. – like molluscs, crustaceans and blue-green algae.
• On the IUCN Red list, lesser flamingos are listed as ‘near threatened’ and greater flamingos, as being of ‘least concern’. 
• LRK is a known nesting site of lesser flamingos.
• Anda Bet, also known as the Flamingo City in GRK, has been an exclusive nesting site of greater flamingos.
• Thousands of flamingos migrate to Mumbai every year between the months of October and March before flying out around June.
• They arrive from the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan, some even from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Israel.

What is unique about the new site?

• This year as out of the estimated 1,00,000 nests, only around 2,000 to 3,000 were of greater flamingos. The rest were of lesser flamingos. This is a marked difference from the previous years as this site is mainly for greater flamingos.