The flamingo that flew into Salina yesterday afternoon wading peacefully in the salt pans this morning, blissfully unaware of the watchful eye of Administrative Law Enforcement police and BirdLife officials.

Ornithologist Natalino Fenech said flamingos have become rather regular over the past few years.

In 2005, there were 500 sightings in one year. It was an exceptional year but a few hundred are seen annually, usually flocks just offshore.

Small parties may alight but large flocks keep going on, he said. Salina was one of the places where these birds are seen from time to time, he said.

Birdlife said yesterday the last time flamingos were seen flying into Malta was in January at the Ghadira Nature Reserve. They reportedly disappeared after a break-in at the reserve, although hunters claimed they had flown out. 

Dr Fenech said flamingos always made the news, even more so when one was illegally shot, due to a change in people's attitudes.

In the 1970s, he said, hunters would almost kill each other over a flamingo. Nowadays, most believed it was a pity to shoot at them though some rouge elements would still prefer them in their glass cases that in the wild, where they should be.

Photo: Natalino Fenech

Photo: Nyal Xuereb