Connectivity between the Algerian population of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus and those of the Mediterranean basin

In the Mediterranean basin, Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus constitute a metapopulation with natal and breeding dispersal among colonies. However, the rate of exchange between European and North African colonies remains poorly known. In this paper, we document the wintering and breeding of European flamingos in Algeria and provide the first post-fledging dispersal data for flamingos born in Algeria. At breeding colonies in Algeria, most ringed birds (99.4% of 835 birds) originated from north-western Mediterranean colonies (397 individuals born in France, 369 in Spain, 57 in Sardinia and seven in continental Italy), but there were also four from Turkey (the first evidence of natal dispersal from a north-eastern Mediterranean colony to Algeria) and one from Algeria. Among the 860 fledglings ringed in Algeria in 2006 and 2009, 619 different individuals were resighted from August 2006 to September 2010 in a total of 980 resightings. A large proportion (73%) of these birds was observed at North African sites, while the remaining ones reached both north-western (168 birds) and north-eastern (three birds) Mediterranean wetlands, suggesting extensive interchange between colonies from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.