Turkey's Salt Lake welcomes thousands of flamingo chicks

Tens of thousands of flamingos hatching from their eggs in Turkey's Salt Lake, one of the world's premier nesting grounds for the colorful species, offers a dazzling visual feast. The flamingos choose their breeding sites carefully, and especially favor the southern part of the lake, which is located on the outskirts of Eskil in the central Aksaray province. The Salt Lake, located some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital Ankara, spans 1,665 square km (643 square mi.), and is one of the largest hyper-saline lakes in the world. Throngs of flamingo chicks emerging from their eggs have turned the area of stunning untouched nature into a 'flamingo heaven.' Özge Balkız, Biological Diversity Protection Program coordinator at the Nature Protection Center in the capital Ankara, told Anadolu Agency that the Salt Lake is a wetland of great importance for flamingos in the vicinity of the Mediterranean and North Africa. 'Some years over 20,000 chicks hatch from their eggs in Salt Lake,' she said, adding that the area is important as it is untouched by human activity and protected. 'There are many other lakes around where the flamingos can feed themselves,' she said. Noting that the number of flamingos nesting in the area changes each year due to lake's water level, she added: 'The flamingos' breeding success is mostly based on the water level of the lake.'