Flamingos captivate as they return to breeding island in western Turkey

By Halil Fidan

IZMIR, Turkey (AA) - Dazzling onlookers, flamingos in western Turkey have started returning to an artificial island built as an incubation site for its pink-plumed visitors.

Situated at the mouth of the Gediz River in one of the largest deltas of the Eastern Mediterranean, the roughly one-and-a-half-acre island is in one of Turkey's two breeding grounds for flamingos, also known as alli turnas (red crane) in Turkish.

Hosting flamingos as they feed, rest, and court each other during their annual breeding season after a long mass flight, beautiful scenes take hold in the Gediz Delta as its waters spill into the Gulf of Izmir on Turkey's Aegean coast.

The delta, which has the protection status of Ramsar Area, Wildlife Protection Area and Natural Protected Area and which has been applied to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, hosts approximately 300 bird species.

Celal Murat Aslanapara, the field engineer at the bird sanctuary where the island is found, told Anadolu Agency that the avian activity in the region had increased as the weather warms.

Among all the bird species in the Gediz Delta, flamingos have bred the most, he noted.

The pink of the flamingos that dots the sky and water surface at sunset offers magnificent views in the sanctuary, also known as Izmir Bird Paradise, Aslanapa said.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk