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Flamingo breeding season gets off to a stunning start in Torrevieja
More than 2,500 breeding pairs choose the Costa Blanca salt flats to raise their young each year
The lagoon and salt flats in Torrevieja are a flurry of activity as one of the most anticipated annual events on every nature lover’s calendar rapidly approaches: the flamingo breeding season.
Each April/May, new breeding pairs of pink flamingos swoop down on the Costa Blanca’s famous lakes to nest. In 2024, around 2,500 couples made a temporary home on the dry mound of land that divides the salt lagoon in half, and it’s hoped that a similar number will start arriving in the coming days and weeks.
Last year, the first pair was spotted building its nest on April 10, so keen-eyed enthusiasts are already watching the waters and banks closely. And if the busy comings and goings captured in these incredible shots taken by Proyecto Mastral’s Joaquín Carrión are anything to go by, we could catch a glimpse of adorable flaminglets soon.
Flamingos have always been part of the Torrevieja and La Mata Lagoons Natural Park habitat, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2020 that they started breeding here. Although the nesting site is remarkably close to a thriving city and busy dual carriageway, the pandemic lock-down offered the birds a peaceful nesting site for the first time. A torrential cycle of storms also flooded Alicante’s wetlands some months earlier, providing ample food, just as a drought ravaged traditional breeding areas, such as the Fuente de Piedra lagoon in Málaga.
The surprising success of Torrevieja as a nesting site has encouraged thousands of flamingos to return each year since then.
Images: Proyecto Mastral
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