Flamingoes abandon thousands of eggs due to dry spell in LRK
Feb 10, 2015, 05.55 AM IST

LRK: Flamingo eggs have been found abandoned in one of the six breeding colonies in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK). Every year lakhs of flamingos arrive in search of food and for breeding at LRK.

The water in this particular breeding site located between Wasraj bait and Dhrangadhra dried up sooner than usual which resulted in a scarcity of food and water and forcing the flamingoes to abandon their eggs.

It is estimated that the number of abandoned eggs could be between 15,000 and 18,000. But officials claimed that only around 1,300 to 1,500 eggs were deserted.

"We have visited the area. There are about 1,200 to 1,300 nests with unhatched eggs. The birds are erratic breeders and breed in thousands. They have successfully bred in five other colonies in LRK. The wasted eggs are preyed upon by raptors frequenting the region," said Surendranagar's deputy conservator of forests, Pradeep Singh.

The flamingos need salt encrusted damp mud to build nests. Also the place where the nest is built has to isolated and inaccessible to human and predatory intervention.