Rare Chilean 'flamingling' born to parents Moana and Joy at Scots wildlife centre
A rare Chilean flamingo chick has hatched at a Scottish wildlife centre. The bird, which hasn't been named yet, is the only one of its kind born in the UK this year.
The young flamingo, affectionately nicknamed a 'flamingling', was born just five days ago at Bird Gardens Scotland in Oxton, the Borders. It is the first chick for seven-year-old parents Moana and Joy.
Bird Gardens owners Owen Joiner and Mark Halliday hand-reared the flamingo couple at the centre and have said that they are "very proud" of the new parents and the unexpected success of the breeding season.
Owen said: 'The flamingos we have here hatched seven years ago and they're now physically mature. We had some tentative nesting behaviour 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 spring, the flock engaged in elaborate group courtship dances, a strong sign of nesting readiness. The result was five eggs, which were carefully moved to an incubator to keep them safe from predators.
In their place, Mark, who is also a potter, crafted ceramic eggs to keep the parents invested. Owen explained: 'Mark made some ceramic flamingo eggs that we gave to mum and dad to keep them interested in the nest.
"When the eggs started to pip, we transferred them back to mum and dad, and it hatched that night.'
The egg that hatched was placed back into the nest just in time, and the chick emerged under the watchful eye of its parents. It will be several weeks before the chick can be sexed and named, but Owen and Mark say the first-time parents have adapted brilliantly.
'It's only four or five days old, and within the first month, a lot can go wrong, but the parents are being amazing,' said Owen.
'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.'
Mark added that protecting the eggs from predators was a priority, and that was why they moved them to an incubator. He said: '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.'
Despite being novices, Moana and Joy are showing impressive teamwork in raising their chick. 'They do it in pairs, so when he's off feeding, she's on the egg, and vice versa,' said Mark.
'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.'
Bird Gardens Scotland opened just three years ago, and this successful chick is seen as a milestone for the young conservation site.
'It's a real success story,' said Owen. '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.'
He added: '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 there may yet be more chicks to come. '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.'
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