Tuz Gölü records 12,800 flamingo chicks, highest in five years

Environment Minister Murat Kurum announced that 12,800 flamingo chicks were born at Tuz Gölü this year, the highest number recorded in the past five years. The lake, a designated Special Environmental Protection Area, has been the focus of a conservation program that included drilling a freshwater well in 2022 to supply water to the chicks’ nursery area during drought periods. This year, sufficient rainfall eliminated the need for supplemental water.

The Ministry’s wildlife director, Mustafa Uzun, confirmed that aerial surveys in July counted the chicks and that monitoring also tracks other threatened species such as reed warblers and steppe eagles. The fledglings are expected to remain in the lake until the migration season later in the year. Kurum highlighted the success as evidence that the protection measures are working, stating, “Our family at Tuz Gölü is growing; we have reached the highest chick count of the last five years.”