Flamingo island in İzmir bird sanctuary

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

The world’s largest artificial flamingo island has been created in İzmir’s bird sanctuary, covering an area of 6,440 square meters.

“Artificial flamingos were placed on some nests on the island, which is a first in the world,” said the deputy director of Ege University Natural History Research and Application Center, Professor Mehmet Sıkı. “Fake eggs were also placed in some of the nests. We expect 10-12,000 flamingos will incubate on the island.”

The work on the bird sanctuary has been carried out under the scientific surveillance of Sıkı. “First of all, the area was cleaned of weeds, stones and plastic objects that could scare flamingos.  Then, 277 artificial flamingo nests were made by using the soil on the island. Faux-flamingos were placed on nine of these nests. The eggs were put in 10 nests. In Turkey, flamingos incubate only in Lake Tuz and İzmir’s bird sanctuary. Those in Lake Tuz are struggling to reproduce against natural conditions, but the ones in İzmir are privileged thanks to special protection measures,” Sıkı said.

Sıkı said because of waves of erosion, the island, where flamingos incubate in İzmir, had been diminished over the last 29 years and had almost disappeared over the last two years.

“Considering this situation, the world’s largest artificial flamingo island was created here with a size of 6,440 square meters. Our goal is to enable 10-12,000 flamingos to incubate here,” Sıkı added.