PInkFloyd

The Handrearing ofaChilian Flamingo and itsIntroduction to the Flock

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by Chris SmithAnimal Technician

Oklahoma City Zoological Park

Floyd (second from right) seen as a member of the flock. He can be distinguished be the lightgray down on the head and neck and by the lighter shade ofpink on the body and wings. Shortlyafter Floyd was introduced to the flock, several pairs C!f.flamingos successfully hatched andreared their young.

Pink Floyd: to many people it isthe name of a rock band that hasrecorded many cIa sic albums

such as "The Wall" and "The Dark Sideof the Moon. ' To the personnel at theOklahoma City Zoological Park, it is alsothe name of its first captive-hatchedChilean Flamingo, Phoenicopteruschilensis.

The Oklahoma City Zoo has exhib­ited Chilean Flamingos since 1966, butit was not until 1993 that any of thebirds began nesting. esting did notoccur until after the exhibit had beenexpanded and renovated and severalnew birds were added to the flock.The new birds brought the populationto 23 (12 males 11 females).

The exhibit measures approximate­ly 100 ft. (30m) by 60 ft. (20m) with a20ft. (7m) by 10ft. (3m) pool. Heavilyplanted flower beds surround most ofthe exhibit, which provide a comfortzone between the birds and zoo visi­tors. Dirt mounds were provided forthe flamingos to use for their nests.Several pairs began producing eggs inMay 1993 and continued to laythroughout the summer. The eggswere initially left in the nest under the

42 July/August 1997

birds care. However, after one of thefirst eggs disappeared from the nest,the remaining and subsequent eggswere pulled and replaced with dummyeggs. The eggs were placed in incuba­tor at a temperature of 99.5° F. (37.5°C). The hygrometer was maintainedbetween 82-84°F (30-31°C). The eggswere turned five times daily. A total ofeight flamingo eggs were pulled fromthe nests.

The eggs were to be placed back inthe nests when the chicks reached theair cell or pipped, the first steps in thehatching process. The chicks wouldthen hatch under the parents and berai ed by them. Midway throughSeptember, while eggs were still underartificial incubation, the nesting flamin­gos abandoned their nests. The fol­lowing week, the first chick hatchedafter a 28-day incubation period. Outof the seven remaining eggs that werepulled, six were infertile and one diedearly in development.

In their natural environment, flamin­gos nest in colonies. Adult pairs willtypically nest at the same time as otherbirds in the colony. Both parents incu­bate eggs and care for young. After

hatching, chicks stay in or near thenest for about the first week. Afterleaving the nest, chicks congregatewith other chicks, forming creches ornursery groups. These creches canconsist of several thousand youngbirds.

Adult flamingos take turns watchingover the chicks. While the chicks are inthe nursery, the parents continue tofeed their offspring. Parents are able torecognize their chicks from their calls.After about five weeks, the chicks areable to begin feeding on their own, butusually do not fledge until about 12weeks of age.

Hatching and hand-rearing only aingle flalllingo chick can pose a chal­

lenge. A chick requiring handfeedingsand without other birds to associatewhile growing up would certainlybecome imprinted on people.Unfortunately, since the plan to placethe hatching egg back under the adultswas no longer possible, the chickwould be hand-reared and later intro­duced to the flamingo colony.

After hatching, the chick was left inthe incubator for 24 hours to absorb itsyolk sac and dry off. The chick was

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SummaryThe first Chilean Flamingo

Phoenicopterus chilensis to hatch at theOklahoma City Zoological Park wasalso the zoo's first hand-reared flamin­go. The chick was raised on a syringe­fed diet, and soon became imprintedon people. Through a lengthy process,the chick was introduced to other birdsand eventually returned to the flamin­go colony without showing signs of itsinitial imprinting.

AcknowledgmentsTo the personnel of the Oklahoma City

Zoological Park: Steve Wylie, Director, jackGrisham, General Curator,jim Fish, Curator, DarcyHenthorn, Neil Carter, Ken Hovey, Doug Latham,jeff Papp, Eddie Witte, Sea World of Florida andBusch Gardens.

their exhibit. However, he has sinceoutgrown his light gray juvenile feath­ers, and is now barely distinguishablefrom the other flamingos. With only anumbered leg band to accurately iden­tify him, Floyd now appears to be asone with the flock.

Products Mentioned in TextD-Ca-Fos® Natural Bone Ash with Vitamin 03

Supplement produced by Fort DodgeLaboratories, Inc., Fort Dodge, Iowa,50501

Flamingo Fare® produced by Reliable ProteinProducts, Rancho Mirage, California,92270.

Gerber® High Protein baby cereal produced byGerber Products Company, Fremont,Michigan, 49413.

Vionate® Vitamin Mineral Powder produced byGimborn-Rich Health, 4280 NortheastExpressway, Atlanta, Georgia, 30340,

Referencesdel Hoyo, josep, Elliot, Andrew, and Sargatel,

jordi, eds. Handbook of the Birds ofthe World Volume 1. Lynx Edicions,Barcelona 1992. ~

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Floyd did not associate with any ofthe other birds at first, instead prefer­ring the company of keepers. But, afterseveral days, he began to flock with2.2 African spoonbills Platalea alba,which were the largest birds in thewintering facility with him.

After Floyd began showing interestin other birds, several attempts weremade to introduce him to the ChileanFlamingo flock on display. Severalintroductions were tried on warmsunny days through the Winter.However, the introductions were notsuccessful, as neither Floyd nor theflamingo colony showed interest ineach other.

The next spring, he was moved tothe flamingo exhibit to be permanent­ly placed in the colony. A "howdy"fence was set up, similar to what hadbeen used before. Floyd was allowedto view the flamingo colony during theday, but was brought inside a barn forthe evenings. Floyd remained in the"howdy" area for about two weekshefore he was allowed to mingle withthe colony.

Gradually, Floyd began to flockwith the colony, but was still imprint­ed on people. To help him learn toassociate with other flamingos, severalbirds from the flock were broughtinside with him for the night. This con­tinued for several weeks. By earlysummer, Floyd was associated with theflock well enough to be left out with itpermanently. Throughout the transi­tion, he gradually became less imprint­ed on people, and learned how tobehave like a flamingo.

Today, Floyd can still be seenamong the other Chilean Flamingos in

then moved to a hrooder hox and pro­vided with a heat lamp. The brooderbox measured 8 ft. x 2 ft. (2.5m x.75m), with dividers 15 in. (45cm) highevelY 2 ft. C75m). These allowed theboxes to he expanded as the chickgrew. Outdoor carpet was used on thebottom of the hox, which could heeasily cleaned and disinfected. To helpreduce the severity of imprinting, asmall mirror was placed in the hrood­er hox, which allowed the chick toassociate with "another" hird.

The chick, named Floyd, was fed agruel that consisted of 4 oz. Cl15g)hlended smelt, 4 oz. Cl15g) krill, threecooked egg yolks, and 2.5 oz. (70g)Gerber® High Protein baby cereal.Two vitamin su pplements, Vionate(Dand D-Ca-Fos®, were added to the for­mula. The formula was blended into asemi-thick soup and fed through asyringe. Five feedings were givendaily, plus an additional night feedingfor the first three weeks. The chick wasallowed to feed until it was full. For thefirst day, Floyd ate an average of 3cc offormula per feeding. During the first 30days, Floyd averaged a 5.1% gain inweight (Table 2).

During the third week, a dish withground smelt, krill and FlamingoFare® (a commercial flamingo diet)was offered to the chick in addition tothe syringe feedings. Water was addedto the dish to soften the food and toallow the chick to filter feed. Floydgradually became more interested infeeding from the dish than beingsyringe fed. By five weeks of age, hewas refusing hand-feedings in favor ofthe dish diet.

As Floyd outgrew the brooder box,he was introduced to an enclosureused for wintering ibises, spoonbills,and waterfowl. Initially, he was kept inthe room alone, but as the weatherturned cold, other birds had to bebrought indoors for the winter. Ratherthan immediately putting Floyd in agroup of unfamiliar birds, he wasplaced in a "howdy" area so he andthe other birds could graduallybecome acquainted with each other. Asection of the room was fenced offwith chicken wire, allowing Floyd tosee the other birds, but not interactwith them. After a few days, Floyd wasallowed outside of the "howdy" cage.

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