FUENTE DE PIEDRA, SPAIN, June 17 (Reuters) – Thousands of flamingo pairs graced the famous southern Fuente de Piedra wetlands in Spain last year to incubate their chicks in what was one of the largest colonies of these emblematic wading birds in Europe.
But this has not happened again.
Just a few dozen adult birds could be seen on Saturday after a prolonged drought in Spain has dried up the saltwater lagoon and forced most migratory birds to avoid the wetland.
“It’s a shame for tourism, people come here to spend the day. Normally the lagoon is full of flamingos. There are also many other birds. It seems that climate change is causing this,” Alberto González Sánchez told Reuters on Saturday. 53 years old, a local resident.
África Lupión, conservator of the Fuente de Piedra natural space, told Cadena Ser in February that the level of rainfall was the lowest since 1995.
Since 1984, when the area was declared a nature reserve, more than 200,000 flamingo chicks have been born in the lagoon, located in the province of Malaga, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainability of the Junta de Andalucía.
This year’s spring has been the hottest and second driest in Spain since records were kept in 1961, and above-average temperatures are likely to continue this summer. (Reporting by Graham Keeley, Jon Nazca and Miguel Gutierrez. Editing in Spanish by Javier Leira)
Source: Ambito
