Bursa’s latest pink visitor from Venice

ISTANBUL

Karacabey floodplain, known as a hidden paradise in Bursa province and habitat to hundreds of species, is now home to a ringed flamingo from Venice, Italy.

A flamingo “ECPZ,” a code attached to a ring when it was a nestling in 2012 and last seen in Venice in 2013, was photographed by wildlife photographer Alper Tüydeş in Karacabey floodplain after seven years without a recorded sighting.

Karacabey floodplain is habitat to hundreds of species of birds each year and hosts hundreds of flamingos in winter.

These birds, which fly north to breed in summer, migrate further south to spend the winter with the arrival of autumn.

Tüydeş, who has been observing the wildlife in the area for 10 years and drew attention to the region with his photographs, had previously photographed a ringed stork in the same area and found out the stork was ringed in Germany.

But this time, Tüydeş photographed a ringed flamingo with a ring on his leg and then forwarded the data to his contacts abroad.

Shortly after Tüydeş’s e-mail was answered by Italian researcher Marco Scutell.

“The flamingo I photographed in Karacabey was ringed in 2012 as a newly hatched pup at PO Delta Park in Ferrare city of Italy. Later, this flamingo was seen at the age of 1 by another bird watcher on the shores of the world-famous Venice city,” Tüydeş said.

“However, after 2013, the contact with this flamingo was cut off. At the end of December, when I realized a bird during my field study and read the ring number, I immediately shared their information with international databases,” he said.

“Soon, the bird’s life story came to me from Italian researcher Marco Scutella,” he added.

Birds caught by bird researchers in various ways are recorded in the database with rings attached to their legs.

Afterwards, feedback is expected from birds from different parts of the world.

Although it is a difficult method to provide feedback, it is the most cost-effective method and is frequently used worldwide.

In addition, some organizations can do this instantly with satellite transmitting devices.