Press release PR.C.P003.R002 - 2010-01-28 - No. 005

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Every five years there is a general census, which includes all saltwater lagoons of the archipelago.

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park conducted the annual census of flamingos in the major saltwater lagoons where these colorful birds live to determine their population status.

Each year, park rangers, with the support of volunteers and this time with the collaboration of the Environmental Protection Unit of the National Police, are executing this partial census of flamingos, which allows keeping statistics on the number of individuals in the archipelago; and every five years, a full census is conducted in the 28 lagoons on the different islands.

On this occasion, eleven lagoons were counted on Isabela Island, one on Floreana, three in Santa Cruz, one in Santiago and one on the islet Brenbrich.

After tabulating the data from this census, a total of 396 flamingos between adults, youth and those indeterminate were measured, plus 7 old and 22 new nests were registered.

The flamingos are birds native to the Galapagos, they nest from July to March and the females lay a single egg which is incubated by the male and female for about 30 days. There are flamingos in many parts of the world, but the population in the Galapagos is the smallest of all. The Galapagos flamingos unlike in other populations, do not need thousands of individuals to start breeding, on the contrary, this Galapagos species is unique in that they nest in groups of 10 to 80 birds.