One video that is taking rounds on social media and making people stop to stare is the salt flats of the Rann of Kutch turning an improbable shade of pink.
What appears at first like a trick of light is, in fact, a record congregation offlamingos now crowding the shallow wetlands of Kutch. Drone images of the spectacle have gone viral.
But there is an ecological story behind this.
Several traditional habitats like Thane Creek (Navi Mumbai), Pulicat Lake, between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Sewri Mudflats in Mumbai and the Sambhar Lake have reported fluctuating numbers. Meanwhile, the mudflats of Kutch are filling up
Increasingly, they are choosing to gather here, in overwhelming numbers, turning Kutch into the epicentre of India’s flamingo migration map.
A surreal drone view of flamingoes in Kutch, like nature’s own masterpiece unfolding in perfect harmony. pic.twitter.com/v4x6cF0Eay
— Harsh Sanghavi (@sanghaviharsh) April 5, 2026
Why Kutch is winning
The answer lies in the balance of water, food, and space.
The Rann is neither fully desert nor fully wetland. After the monsoon, rainwater mixes with the region’s natural salinity to create nutrient-rich shallows. This unique chemistry supports blooms of blue-green algae and brine shrimp, the primary food for flamingos.
It is this diet that gives the birds their iconic pink hue.
Equally crucial is what the Rann lacks: disturbance.
Compared to more urbanised wetlands, parts of Kutch remain relatively undisturbed.
Continuous patrolling by forest authorities has helped protect nesting sites.
A city built on salt
The Great Rann, often called “Flamingo City” spreads across a nearly 30-kilometre stretch that floods seasonally into shallow wetlands, and this is the only regular breeding ground for greater flamingos in South Asia.
On the mudflats near Kala Dungar, about 10 kilometres from a remote border outpost, flamingos construct cone-shaped nests from cotton soil, raised just enough, a foot or two, to escape sudden flooding. Since the landscape swings between arid and inundated, their survival depends on precision.
And flamingos, it turns out, are remarkably well-equipped.
To endure the Rann’s saline waters, flamingos possess specialised glands near their eyes that filter excess salt from their blood, expelling it through their nostrils, a built-in desalination system. Their legs and webbed feet are adapted to navigate briny, alkaline terrain, while their skin resists the corrosive effects of such waters.
In a recent post on X, Indian Forest Service officer Himanshu Tyagi describes them as creatures engineered for extremes.
To survive in the saline waters of Kutch, flamingos have specialised supraorbital glands near their eyes that act as biological desalination plants—filtering excess salt from their blood and excreting it through their nostrils.
Their long legs and webbed feet are built for briny… https://t.co/ZUcWOtEYmB
— Himanshu Tyagi, IFS (@Himanshutyg_ifs) April 5, 2026
“They desalt their own blood, withstand chemical harshness, and organise nurseries,” he notes, in admiration. “What else is nature hiding?”
The nurseries he refers to are among the most extraordinary sights. Once hatched, flamingo chicks gather in vast crèches, thousands of downy grey young clustered together, watched over by a handful of adults. The rest of the colony fan out, sometimes flying up to 100 kilometres in search of food, returning to feed their young in a rhythm as old as migration itself.
A wetland that tells a story
The first recorded observation of flamingo nesting here dates back to 1883, during the reign of Maharao Khengarji.
But today, environmentalists see the booming flamingo population as both a success and a signal. Flamingos are what scientists call “indicator species”, so their presence reflects the health of an ecosystem. A thriving population suggests a functioning wetland, rich in food and relatively stable.
But concentration can also mean displacement.
To endure the Rann’s saline waters, flamingos possess specialised glands near their eyes that filter excess salt from their blood, expelling it through their nostrils. Photograph: (Lakshmi Sharath)
As flamingos gather in record numbers in Kutch, questions linger about other habitats. Are changing rainfall patterns, human pressure, encroachment, and tourism pushing these birds away from their traditional grounds?
Yes, shifts in water levels, a disruption in food supply, or an increase in human activity could alter the balance.
However, in Kutch, for now, the balance holds, although it is a fragile equilibrium.
The Rann of Kutch resembles a desert in bloom, right now. The flamingos bring movement, and colour, while reminding us that even in the harshest terrains, beauty does take flight.
