FLAMINGO

any of four species of tall wading birds, constituting the family Phoenicopteridae of the order Ciconiiformes, which also includes the herons, bitterns, and storks. They are considered by some authorities to warrant separation as a distinct order, Phoenicopteriformes. Flamingos have webbed feet, slender bodies, long, thin necks, large wings, and short tails. They range from about 90 centimetres (3 feet) tall to 150 centimetres (5 feet) tall. Their plumage is mainly pink, tinged with light vermillion. They have bare faces. Flamingos are gregarious birds; flocks numbering hundreds may be seen in long, curving flight formations and in wading groups along the shore. In feeding, the flamingo tramps the shallows, stirring up organic matter, especially minute mollusks and crustaceans, which it strains from the muddy water by means of its sievelike lamellated bill. The nest is a truncated cone of clayish mud piled up a few inches in a shallow lagoon; both parents share the month of incubation of the one or two chalky-white eggs that are laid in the hollow of the cone. Downy white young leave the nests in two or three days and are fed by regurgitation of partly digested food of the adults. The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) breeds in large colonies on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of tropical and subtropical America (the American flamingo, P.r. ruber, and the Galpagos flamingo, P.r. galapagosis) and, in the Old World, in Africa and southern Europe and Asia (P.r. roseus). Another American variety, the Chilean flamingo (P.r. chilensis), is primarily an inland species. Two smaller species occurring in the Andes of South America are the Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus) and James's flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi), once thought to have been extinct. Lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) The lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor; see photograph), abundant in the lake district of eastern Africa and also occurring in South Africa, Madagascar, and India, is the most abundant flamingo. It is deep pink in colour and stands about 100 centimetres tall. Large flocks of lesser flamingos sometimes contain several million birds.