We received a number of cards and letters or concern and support for the flamingo after the incident. Here are some of them. Thank you very much to all of you for your well wishes for our flamingo.

The flamingo is still doing well, activity patterns have settled back into a daily routine though it can still adapt to changes. We recently removed a plant from its enclosure and this now creates a new path that the flamingo uses often. Weight is still good, most recently at 4.10kg. With its last few weights varying from 4.1kg to 4.3kg (with the variation possibly caused by whether it has recently fed or not) its weight is consistent enough to be of no further concern.

Hi there

I'm Vaughan, the keeper normally responsible for looking after the Flamingos as well as another 300+ birds at Adelaide Zoo. I have been working here for about six years and have looked after the flamingos for about four of those years. I also used to be a volunteer guide here at the zoo for close to twenty years before that so I have a long history of being around Adelaide Zoo, and being around the flamingos. I have also been fortunate enough to have observed flamingos in the wild in Africa.

I hope you enjoy our website and the information that we can provide to you. I’ll be weighing the flamingo again soon so will write another update over the weekend.

Merry Christmas.

The Greater Flamingo has been doing fine all week. Its weight today is 4.04kg. Though this is down on the last weighing, it is a return to the likely standard weight. Another Zoowatch will be starting next week to enable a comparison of present behaviour to the results of the last Zoowatch post incident.

The Greater Flamingo has been doing fine all week. Its weight today is 4.04kg. Though this is down on the last weighing, it is a return to the likely standard weight. Another Zoowatch will be starting next week to enable a comparison of present behaviour to the results of the last Zoowatch post incident.

The flamingo is still gaining weight - today’s weight is 4.31kg. That’s another big increase over the last week. To put it on the walk-on scales, it needs to be gently picked up and placed on the scales, so the chest area is felt every weigh day.

The condition of the bird now feels really good too, very solid and heavy chest.

Flamingo still gaining weight, 4.09kg today.

Last day of the volunteer Zoowatch on the flamingo, with some interesting data on the flamingo behaviour collected:

• The Greater Flamingo has spent 67% of its time over the last two weeks on the lawn, 5% on the sand area and 28% in the pond, compared to the Chilean Flamingo who has spent only 10% if its time on the lawn, 11% on the sand area and 79% in the pond.
• The Chilean Flamingo has also spent a lot of time sieving the pond for food and has found all it needs to eat from the pond as it hasn’t eaten from the food bucket in the last two weeks. There must be a lot of insect and plant growth in the water.

Greater Flamingo weight today is 4.04kg – up again. Weighing reduced to approximately weekly.

Behaviour has been about the same during the day, and the flamingo has had a massive weight gain – up to 3.97kg. WOW! This is about the weight of the bird when it was taken back to its enclosure after the incident. Terrific news.

The last two days have been similar to day 11, feeding a little in the morning and in the pond about half the time. Afternoon weight up to 3.76kg, four days of slow weight gain which is great. Weighing is to be reduced to every 2nd or 3rd day with the Zoowatch volunteers continuing for another week.

The flamingo started feeding from its food bucket today for a few minutes early morning, mid morning and again late morning. Spent half of the day in the pond and seems to be more active.

Afternoon weight is up to 3.71kg, a slight rise from yesterday.

Behaviour today was good, spent a lot of time in the pond and occasionally filter fed from the pond. More active today than it has been, Weight today 3.67.

It was observed to filter feed from the pond for a few minutes early morning though not again for the rest of the day. It was drinking from the pond periodically throughout the day so hopefully obtaining some nutrients.

Still regularly defecating, though with little substance. It was also observed nibbling on sand for a short time.

Weight now 3.74kg, up marginally.