Andean Flamingo
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| Andean Flamingo | ||||||||||||||
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| Phoenicopterus andinus Philippi, 1854 |
The Andean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus) is a bird species in the flamingo family restricted to the high Andes in southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. It is closely related to the smaller James's Flamingo, and the two are placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus.
Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.
Andean Flamingos, like all flamingos, feed by filtering small items from water with their specialised bills. They have a deep, narrow lower mandible, which allows them to eat small foods such as diatoms, in contrast to the wider bill of larger species, which take bigger prey items.
Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The Andean Flamingo is the only species of flamingo that has yellow legs and feet. Its bill is yellowish as in James's Flamingo, but with a much more extensive black tip.
The Andean Flamingo is at risk of extinction because of hunting, its long breeding cycle, and the low number of breeding sites around the world.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2008). Phoenicoparrus andinus. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2008. Retrieved on 06 November 2008. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of Vulnerable.
[edit] External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet.
- ARKive - images and movies of the Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus)
- Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
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