Hi all
   
  During last weeks Lesser Flamingo AEWA Single Species Action Plan meeting in Nairobi the delegates visited Nakuru. 
   
  I was stunned by
   
  a). the number of flamingo corpses that suggested the die off has been going on for many months.
   
  b). the complete lack of Palearctic waders, just a few along the channels running into the lake. NONE and I mean NONE along the fringes of the lake. 
   
  I read into this that Nakuru is in serious trouble and we need to find out why. No invertebrate food for palearctic waders !! WHY ?
   
  Yesterday I visited the eastern shore of Lake Manyara, 00s of 000s of flamingos and tens of thousands of Palearctic waders. Only a single dead flamingo.
   
  Scanning the large mobile flocks of adult lessers on Manyara reminded me that there were far fewer "bright pink" adults on Nakuru among the almost 200,000 birds present and that there was very little movement among the birds on Nakuru.
   
  I had a few days at Oloiden before the meeting. The <200,000 birds there looked in better condition (OK that's a subjective comment) than those on Nakuru but were dying as we watched them with 00s of fresh corpses along the lake shore. Dead Egyptian Geese, Black-winged Stilt and Hippo suggested something of concern here and salmonella appears to be the common denominator.
   
  Don, when you have an official report can you see it is circulated.
   
  A few points.
   
  A KWS delegate at the meeting stated that 100,000 flamingos had died at Nakuru "this past year". We need this figure qualified, with sampling methods clearly stated. 
   
  Alfred, can we ask you to follow this one up. 
   
  Can KWS continue to monitor deaths at Nakuru ?
   
  Can someone / organisation in Kenya take responsibility for counting and monitoring at Oloiden ?
   
  Is anyone looking at other Kenyan lakes ? can we have details please.
   
  For the TZ email group. Please keep an eye on our flamingo lakes and report any deaths.
   
  Clearly cynobacteria are involved but it does look like these are only part of the problem. Perhaps weakening the birds enough for other toxins to exceed "normal" levels. Two excellent contributions to the workshop from scientists looking at the role of heavy metals and other diseases so something is being done.
   
  It is a problem, let's not dismiss this as "just a few thousand deaths" that will not impact the population.
   
  thanks
   
  Neil


Neil and Liz Baker, Tanzania Bird Atlas, P.O. Box 1605, Iringa, Tanzania.
Mobiles: 0784-404792 and 0784-834273.
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