Flamingoes are returning to Lake Urmia – or so Ettela’at reported via @IranFrontPage this week.
It’s usually bad news on the environmental front in Iran, so if it’s really happening, this is wonderful!
I already blogged about how Lake Urmia has been turning into a salt waste. And I didn’t altogether believe in the half a billion dollars investment in better water management reported in New Scientist.
But maybe I was wrong. To celebrate, I thought you might be interested to see an old video about catching and ringing flamingos on the lake (called Lake Rezaieyah in the Pahlavi era). This looks back – but hopefully it also looks forward.
Check out the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doEfCu3ICyU
It shows you exactly how to catch a large bird from the middle of a luxuriant lake. Look at 11.45, if you’ve got this particular problem, or 10.10 to see the fledgling captures – or 6.20 ish if you want to see some wild sheep. Health and safety warning: these men haven’t been told about sunscreen – you have! More scientific information on the lake flamingos is here.
And if anyone is going to go and ring some flamingos anywhere, but especially in Iran, PLEASE invite me along!
