Photos by Özgür Gökşan

 

With their unique appearence, unrivalled dances and black curved beaks, Flamingos are alltogether  a diffrent  bird spcies.Salt lakes, lagoons with their salty waters, not prefered by other living creatures are the Flamingos natural habitat.

 

With te help of their long legs, they stir the water base by their curved beaks and feed on shrimps, seeds, blue-green  algae’s, microscopic organisms and mollusk. The color of Flamingos are determined by the pigments in the foods. The colors of Flamingos are determined, by the pigments in the foods they feed on. The more the pigments in the foods they consume, the birds colors will be brighter and more beautiful. The only Flamingo species recorded in Cyprus is, Phoenicopterus roseus (Grater Flamingo). This species, has  a large distribution area, starting from East Africa, along South Meredteranian (Spain,Portugal,France,Italy, Greece,Turkey and Ctprus) to Asia (Pakistan,India).

Flamingos, come to our Island to pass the winter, in September-January, somtimes in March and occasionally it observed that they stay here for longer periods.

Flamingo populations reach thousands in Larnaka Salt Lake, also, in diffrent periods their numbers goes beyond hundreds in Mağusa wet lands, like Gülseren,Ayluga and Glapsides lagoons. The black Flamingo has a black color because of the genetic disorder and is acknowleged as one of its kind, these can be observed in Larnaca Salt Lake since 2015.Each year, hundreds of bird watchers come to Cyprus to watch and photograph Flamingos.