Fitted with a satellite device, this flamingo, Yasmeena, will help Abu Dhabi researchers track the bird’s migratory routes.
Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency (EAD) has been busy this year. In addition to rescuing endangered baboons and hyenas from a private home, and caring for coral reefs one disc at a time, they have played a pivotal role to ensure that posterity will be able to enjoy the Gulf’s marine turtles.
Following the success of various tagging programs since 2005, the EAD captured and fit another Greater Flamingo named Yasmeena with a satellite device that will enable researchers to track her migration route and stopovers.
The EAD has fitted 15 birds with the device since 2005, nine of which are still being tracked. One of them, named Sindibad, was the first to cross the Gulf, according to Gulf News. The device allowed researchers to trace him pausing at various wetland sites along the way. He is currently perched at Khor Al Beidah in Umm Al Quwain.
In another case, a flamingo tagged in Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in 2007 led researchers to discover a previously unknown breeding colony in the Mussafah Channel.
Yasmeena, though, is expected to help Dr. Salim Javed – who leads EAD’s Bird Program and who is also the Manager of Biodiversity Assessment and Monitory – and his colleagues trace migratory routes. Other flamingos have traveled to Iran (where they used to flock at Lake Urmia), Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.
:: Gulf News
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