Not even the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, could avoid sharing this Saturday on social networks (in “X”, formerly called Twitter) the image of hundreds of flamingos dyeing the natural park of L’Albufera de València pink. Hundreds of birds wintering in the waters of the natural park that can be seen these days in the reserve area of ??the Racó de l’Olla interpretation center, a place with high botanical and ornithological interest.
The spectacle that the park leaves today, news in recent days due to the color of its waters, is not new in L’Albufera. Last year, the records of the Generalitat Valenciana point to more than 7,300 specimens that wintered in L’Albufera. They were not the only ones in the Valencian Community, another 3,300 visited the Santa Pola Salt Flats, in Alicante. They were historic maximums.
L’Albufera is the preferred place for water birds that stop in Valencian territory. Of the total number of birds censused in 2022, more than 108,000 were concentrated in L’Albufera (68% of the total), followed very far by the El Hondo natural park, in Elx and Crevillent, with just under 12,000 (the 7.5%) specimens.
In January 2022, the census of wintering waterfowl in the wetlands of the Valencian Community totaled 159,135 waterfowl belonging to 68 different species and spread across 42 wetlands in the territory, an “excellent result, better than in recent years.” , according to the document prepared by the General Directorate of the Natural Environment and Environmental Assessment. Along with the flamingo specimens, historical highs were also observed for the common teal, the red duck and the little egret.
More than 60 specialists from NGOs such as the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO/BirdLife) or Friends of the Wetlands of Southern Alicante (AHSA), technicians from the City Councils of Valencia and Elx, as well as personnel dependent on the Department of Agriculture, including environmental agents, natural parks and wildlife recovery centers, etc.
