Flamingo Marathon launched in Abu-Dhabi
The unique ornithological contest called, the Abu Dhabi Birdathon, has been launched Tuesday from internationally recognized Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi. The participants of the marathon, organized by Etihad Airways and the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, are ten Greater flamingos.
Each bird, nominated to a leading companies and organizations in Abu Dhabi, were tagged with a solar-powered 45-gram transmitter and released.
Over the next four months, the flamingos will migrate to nesting location crossing over 4,000 kilometres in transit via Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The tracker device will transmit signals on the birds’ locations to the Abu Dhabi Birdathon website, www.adbirdathon.ae, where people can also observe the movement of feathered marathoners.
The birds will be tracked until 4 March 2019. The flamingo, which reaches the farthest distance, will be announced as winner.
“We wanted to share our passion with broader partners to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands and understanding bird migration movements, so we track them to understand where they feed,” said Laila Al Hassan, a senior adviser of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, according to The National.
“Last year we had between 4,000 and 5,000 birds, but in the summer the figures dropped because the majority went back to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan”, she said.
Al Wathba is one of 19 protected areas in the UAE and is home to 260 bird species.
The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi has extensive bird satellite tracking programme, which is appreciated by environmentalists and ornithologists all over the world. The initiative contributes to better understanding of the birds’ ecology, movement, migration routes, stopovers.
One of the successful examples of this activity is flamingo nicknamed Sindbad. It was monitored was monitored for over seven years. It is believed to be one of the most extensive tracking of an individual Greater Flamingo in the world.
Sindbad traversed more than 20,000 kms, sometimes flying at speeds of over 90 km/h. A truly international traveler, he spent summers in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. The information gathered by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi has been invaluable to the tracking of other birds, which share similar habitats and migratory patterns.
Wetlands of the Caspian coast of Turkmenistan are considered to be the favorite sites of waterfowl birds, including flamingos, especially during migration and wintering. Also, flocks of these pale pink birds can be met on an artificial island created in Turkmenbashi Bay.
