The Greater Flamingo - Phoenicopterus roseus - is the most widespread flamingo. It is
found in Africa, Southern Asia and Southern Europe.
The preferred habitat is mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons. It is the state
bird of Gujarat, India.
Description
This is the
largest species of flamingo. Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing
coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. They
have long, lean, curved necks and black-tipped bills with a distinctive
downward bend.
The bill is pink
and the legs are entirely pink. Their bent bills allow them to feed on small
organisms—plankton, tiny fish, fly larvae, etc. In muddy flats or shallow
water, they use their long legs and webbed feet to stir up the bottom. They
then bury their bills, or even their entire heads, and suck up both mud and
water to access the tasty morsels within. A flamingo's beak has a filter-like
structure to remove food from the water before the liquid is expelled.
Shrimplike crustaceans are responsible for the flamingo's pink color.
Call
Greater Flamingos
have a loud, deep honking call that is similar to that of a goose. They call
loudly during courtship but they have a quieter call while they are feeding.
Food
It mainly eats
small invertebrates, such as brine shrimps (Artemia), brine flies (Ephydra),
molluscs and diatoms, foraging by holding its bill upside down in waist-high water.
Its large tongue pumps water in and out, while small filaments at the edge of
its bill filter out food.
Breeding
Greater flamingos
also breed while gathered in groups. Egg-laying season starts in November,
peaking from January-February. Once mating is complete, a pair takes turns
incubating their single chalky-white egg for roughly 27 to 31 days. The nest
built mainly by the male is a mud mound. The chicks are brooded for the first 3
to 4 days of their lives, leaving the nest at 5 to 10 days old to join a
crèche. They are fed by both parents with a glandular secretion and take first
flight at about 75-80 days old. Young flamingos are born gray and white and do
not turn pink for two years. In years when wetlands and pools are dry and food
scarce, flamingoes may not breed.
Conservation Status – Least Concern
Not threatened
globally, although Near-threatened in South
Africa and Vulnerable in Namibia,
largely due to lowering water tables at major breeding sites and collision with
power lines.
Birdwatching
These striking
birds can be seen on the following Aves
Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures: -
Aves Highlands / Tembe Birding Tour / Safari /
Adventure.
Aves KZN Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North East
Birding Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North West Birding Tour
/ Safari / Adventure.
Aves Western Cape Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves West Coast
Birding Tour / Safari /Adventure.