Rajkot: Gujarat’s iconic flamingos may be far less migratory than previously believed. A four-year GPS-tracking study in Kutch has found that both greater and lesser flamingos spend most of their lives within the region, moving between seasonal wetlands in response to rainfall, water levels and food availability.The study, conducted by researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), provides the first detailed telemetry-based insights into how greater and lesser flamingos use the Kutch landscape through breeding and non-breeding seasons.Researchers Harindra Baraiya, Gaurav Sirola, Anju Baroth and R Suresh Kumar of WII’s department of endangered species management tracked eight adult flamingos — four greater flamingos and four lesser flamingos — between May 2019 and December 2023 using GPS-GSM transmitters.Published in Avian Research, the study generated more than 6.7 lakh location records and mapped movements across one of Asia’s most important flamingo habitats.The findings showed that all tagged birds remained largely within the Kutch region, shifting between the seasonally flooded Rann during the breeding season and inland, coastal and saline wetlands during the rest of the year.“Flamingo City” in the Greater Rann of Kutch, recognised as Asia’s largest flamingo breeding site, remained a crucial nesting area, particularly for greater flamingos. Lesser flamingos were found using wetlands around Kuda and Bela in the Greater Rann and nested in saltpans of the Little Rann of Kutch.Researchers found strong site fidelity among both species, with birds repeatedly returning to previously used wetlands after breeding.The study showed that flamingos travel greater distances during the breeding season. Greater flamingos covered an average of 23.4km a day during breeding compared with 12.4km during the non-breeding season. Lesser flamingos travelled an average of 27.6km a day during breeding and 16.6km during non-breeding months.Rainfall emerged as a key driver of movement patterns. According to the researchers, daily movement increased with rainfall, indicating that flamingos quickly respond to monsoon-driven changes in wetland extent, water depth, salinity and food availability. In the Rann ecosystem, where wetlands expand and contract dramatically with seasonal rains, such changes influence where birds feed, breed and rest.The study also highlighted major differences in habitat preferences. Lesser flamingos relied heavily on saline ecosystems, spending more than half their non-breeding time in saltpans and nearly a third in mudflats. Greater flamingos used freshwater and brackish-water habitats more extensively, although preferences varied among individuals.Researchers also documented rare long-distance movements beyond India. One greater flamingo, named Hanj, spent three months at Pakistan’s Miani Hor Ramsar wetland and made a brief excursion into Afghanistan, covering 2,130km in just 42 hours with two stopovers before returning to Kutch. Another greater flamingo, Paddhar, briefly visited Miani Hor before returning, while a lesser flamingo named Rohar travelled 540km to Ajmer.The authors said these movements demonstrate that flamingo conservation cannot focus only on protected breeding colonies.While Flamingo City, Bela and parts of the Little Rann fall within or near protected areas, flamingos also depend heavily on unprotected wetlands, including saltpans, mudflats and other human-modified habitats.The study warns that wetland reclamation, industrial discharge, agricultural runoff, altered freshwater inflows, defence infrastructure and renewable energy projects could disrupt the ecological network on which flamingos depend.“Incorporating hydrological safeguards into such developments, alongside regulation of industrial discharge and agricultural runoff in both protected and unprotected areas, will be essential to sustain wetland productivity and preserve the dynamic habitat mosaic required for flamingo persistence under increasing climatic and anthropogenic pressures,” the authors said.The researchers have called for landscape-level conservation across interconnected wetlands and recommended expanded satellite tracking to determine whether India’s flamingo populations consist of resident, migratory and nomadic groups.
