5,000 flamingo chicks hatched on a lake that nearly vanished

About 5,000 flamingo chicks have hatched this season at Lake Tuz in central Turkiye, a salt lake that had almost completely dried out five years ago. The lake, once the country's second largest, lost thousands of greater flamingo hatchlings in 2021 when high temperatures and scarce rainfall left the lakebed bare. Drone footage from June 10th shows the young birds clustered under their parents, learning to feed and to watch for threats. The recovery follows a 2022 water supply project that pumps water into the wetlands where the chicks nest, located about 90 miles southeast of Ankara. "The current number is more than double that of last year, which was more than double that of the year before," said Fahri Tunç, President of the Bird's Eye View and Ecology Association. He expects this year's brood to make up for the earlier losses. The lake has no outlet. It waits on the spring rain.