Pink Flamingos

Protecting Yucatecan Wetlands

Environmental Issues – Once a year, thousands of Flamingos literally flock to protected wetlands on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, to find love-or to get it on-however you want to look at it.

Marco Antonio Plata, head of the National Park for the Mexican Flamingo and Celestun Wetlands Reserve, said that the flamingo habitats are under threat and although there are other places, including Florida, Venezuela, and Mexico that flamingos flock to, the “biggest population is here in the Yucatan Peninsula.”

“The wetlands are important for flamingo monitoring and conservation,” Plata says.

Local residents are aware of the need to protect the habitat for the flamingos and some have launched eco-tours, to help the cause; One resident indicated that it is good that they have people that “know they need to protect and look after the flamingos because it’s part of our heritage.”

“And as long as the birds keep coming back, Celestun’s wetland reserve will remain in the pink.”

Read more at Reuters.