![]() Please Note: The articles or images on this page are the sole property of the authors or photographers. Their calls are described as loud goose-like honking. Parents will recognize their own young by their vocalizations, and they will only care for their own chicks.Īfter about two months, their juveniles’ bills should be developed enough to filter feed. Chicks usually leave the nest when they are about 4 to 7 days old, they will leave the nest and often will gather together in creches that are watched over by a few adult birds. Depending on the species, other flamingos may act as foster feeders. This milk is produced in glands lining the entire upper digestive tract (including the crop). The parents share the incubation of this egg, which lasts about 26 – 31 days to hatching.įor about two months, both parents feed the chicks with a substance called “crop milk” that contains various nutrients, such as fat and protein, as well as red and white blood cells. The female only lays one chalky white egg. A nest mound may be as high as 30 cm (12 in) and It can take up to six weeks for a pair to complete the nest. Their nest is a mount made of mud and small stones, lined with feathers. However, flamingos may not nest every year. Even though they are typically non-territorial, they will defend their nest during the breeding season. Their specialized beaks separate mud and silt and the lamellae (miniature ridges inside the bills of water-feeding birds or “teeth”) in the lower bill together with the large rough-surfaced tongue assist with the filtering of food.įlamingos nest in large colonies, often together with thousands of other pairs. Young flamingos attain their full adult plumage when they are about 2 – 3 years old.ĭepending on the species, flamingos feed on brine shrimp or diatoms (blue-green algae) collected in shallow water through which they walk slowly with the bill dipped just below the water surface. The red bill is straight and the plump legs are either red or pink in coloration. However, the reason for it has not yet been determined.ĭepending on the species, newly hatched chicks have either grey or white down feathers. For this reason, some zoos add prawns and supplements (such as canthaxanthin) to the diets of their flamingos.įlamingos usually stand on one leg, maybe to allow one leg to rest. If they are not fed a diet rich in carotene, their plumage will not turn pinkish / salmon. This does not necessarily apply to captive flamingos. Pale or white flamingos are often undernourished and possibly unhealthy. In the wild, a vibrant plumage is an indication of a well-fed flamingo, which increases their desirability as a mate. Range: Africa (such as Great Rift Valley) to northwestern India, where this species is the most numerous flamingo species.įlamingos are well known for their characteristic pink / salmon-colored plumage, which ranges from whitish, light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. ![]() Range: Occurs in some areasof Africa, southern Europe and Southern and southwestern Asia, where this is the most widespread flamingo species. ![]() Range: Found in temperate southern South America. Range: Occurs on Caribbean and Galapagos islands.Ĭhilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) Range: Occurs on the high Andean plateaus of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.Īndean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus – often placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus instead)Ĭaribbean or American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) James’s Flamingo (Phoenicopterus jamesi – often placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus instead There are four species in the Americas and two species in the Old World (Europa, Asia and Africa). ![]()
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