Flamingos
Phoenicpoterus
INDEX
DESCRIPTION
DIET
HABITAT
SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS AND REPRODUCTION
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FLAMINGOS
EVOLUTION
FLAMINGOS IN THE BAHAMAS AND CONSERVATION
OTHER FLAMINGOS AT ARDASTRA
DESCRIPTION
The word flamingo in latin means "flame", refering to their often flamboyant coloration. Flamingos are strange looking birds. With their pink feathers, long legs, long necks and upside down beak, they look very different from other birds.
DIET
Flamingos are filter feeders. They stick their heads upside down into muddy water and strain out microscopic plants and animals such as: algae, small snails and shrimp as well as seeds and other organic matter. The food gets trapped by tiny spikes inside the beak. The tongue also has some spikes on it that scrapes the food off the beak and then the food is swallowed. There is a red pigment in their food called carotene. This gives the flamingos their pink coloration and without it, they would turn white.
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HABITAT
Flamingos are found in many tropical and sub-tropical regions throughout the world. They are shy birds that prefer shallow, desolate, salt lakes; which makes it difficult for predators to surprise them.
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SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS AND REPRODUCTION
Flamingos are very social birds. Breeding colonies often contain many thousands of flamingos and we call these colonies: rookeries.
Flamingos spend most of their day feeding, resting, bathing and preening (using the bill to distribute oil from a gland at the base of their tail. This oil waterproofs their feathers).
As breeding season (usually spring but in tropical areas this is nearly year round) approaches much of their time will be devoted to elaborate displays including: head-flagging which is often followed by the wing-salute or stretch and then the twist-preen.
Head flagging
- When flamingos stretch their necks upward and then they flag them from side to side.
Wing salute
- When flamingos stretch their neck straight and open their wings as wide as possible to expose their beautiful black flight feathers.
Wing and leg stretch
- When flamingos stretch one wing and then stretch out their opposite leg.
Inverted wing salute
- When flamingos stretch their necks forward as straight as they can and open their wings in an inverted fashion.
Twist preen
- When flamingos turn their heads to preen their feathers sending the message that they are well groomed to the other flamingos.
There are many other typical behaviors during breeding season. Flamingos will spend a lot of time pretending to feed and pretending to build nests; trying to send the message to the other flamingos that they will make a good parent. Once a flamingo has chosen its partner, they will often stay with them for life or at least thru multiple breeding seasons. They are
monogamous birds.
Six weeks before the egg is ready to hatch they will begin to construct the nest from mud. They build the nest up like a small volcano and then the female will lay only one goose-sized egg for that year. After 28 days of incubation, a baby flamingo covered in soft grey down will break thru the egg shell using a little spike on the top of their beak called an
egg tooth.
This tooth will disappear a few days after hatching. Both parents are involved in the incubation of the egg and feeding of the chick, for up to 3 months after it hatches. Both parents produce a type of “crop milk” in the crop (found at the base of the neck). This milk is sent up the neck and drips from the beak and into the chick’s mouth. The milk mainly contains fat and protein and is also dark red in color, as it contains a lot of carotene. As the parents feed the chick, their feathers will turn white due to the loss of stored carotene. So, one can always tell when a flamingo has a chick as it will be white and not pink!
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FLAMINGOS
There are 6 different species of flamingos world-wide, four of the species are found in the Americas and two in the old world (Africa and Asia).
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EVOLUTION
Flamingos are an ancient group of birds, with fossil records dating back to at least 10 million years. Fossils suggest that they once roamed in Europe, North America and Australia but now they can only be found in pockets of Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa.
It is still controversial as to what family of birds the flamingos evolved from. They were thought to have been related to geese, storks, and then herons but today they seem to have a close affinity to the waders (Charadriiformes or shore birds).
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FLAMINGOS IN THE BAHAMAS AND CONSERVATION
The flamingos that are found in the Bahamas are the Caribbean flamingos P. ruber. This species may be the second tallest of all the other flamingos and by far the most brilliantly colored. Both sexes grow to almost five feet and weigh about 8 pounds but the males tend to get a bit bigger. Other common names include American, Rosey or West Indian flamingo.
In the past, some have also referred to them as their closest relative, the Greater Flamingo.
The Caribbean flamingo is also found in other countries such as parts of Central and South America and the islands of Bonaire and Cuba. However, the Bahamas has one of the largest breeding populations in the wild which is estimated to be about 60,000 individuals. They are mainly found on the southern most island in the Bahamas, called Great Inagua. Small colonies have also been found on Acklins, Crooked, Mayaguana, and Little Inagua islands.
Before the turn of the century it was estimated that there were approximately 100,000 or more flamingos found throughout the whole of the Bahamas. When the first settlers came, the flamingo population was hunted as a food source and as a result the population dwindled to a little less than 3,000 individuals. Flamingos were nearly lost to the Bahamas forever! Luckily, in the 1980's, the Bahamian government prohibited the hunting of flamingos and made half of Inagua into a national park. Habitat protection is essential for the conservation of all animals and plants. Therefore, the protection of the bird itself and more importantly, its habitat, has helped the flaminogs bounce back to their present population. This is no easy feat for a bird that only has one chick per year!
OTHER FLAMINGOS AT ARDASTRA
Ardasrtra has two species of flamingo, the Caribbean flamingo and the Chilean Flamingo.
Chilean Flamingo - Phoenicpoterus chilensis
The Chilean flamingo is a close relative to the Great and Caribbean flamingo species, and is often included along with them as a subspecies. Reaching somewhere between 4 and 5 feet tall this is the third largest flamingo. They are a paler pink color than their Caribbean counterparts but do have dark pink and black feathers on their wings. These flamingos are found in South America, from Peru to southern Argentina and Chile, including parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. They can usually be found in the shallows of Salt Marshes and brackish lagoons in Tropical and semi-tropical regions. Of the three species of flamingos found in South America, the Chilean flamingo is the widest ranging and is more abundant with about 200,000 individuals living in the wild today.
The James' and Andean flamingos of South America are usually found at higher altitudes than the Chilean but in the warmer months the Chileans do migrate to these mountainous lakes sharing them with the other two species. For along time it was a mystery how these three species could live side by side sharing the same resources and not compete with each other. The secret apparently was in their bill. A study done at the New York Bronx zoo showed that these different species had varying distances between the "spikes" in the bill which enabled the flamingos to filter different sized food particles from the lakes. Per inch there were 13 spikes in the Chilean flamingo, 23 in the Andean and 54 in the James'.
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