Phoenicopterus ruber
The American Flamingo, or Caribbean Flamingo, is a magnificent and iconic wading bird renowned for its brilliant rosy-red to vermilion plumage, which darkens to black on its primary and secondary flight feathers. Standing impressively tall at 120-145 cm (47-57 in) with a wingspan of 140-165 cm (55-65 in), its most distinctive field marks include its extremely long, slender pink legs and a large, uniquely down-curved, pink bill with a black tip, adapted for filter-feeding. Taxonomically, it be...
American Flamingos inhabit shallow, hypersaline lagoons, estuaries, salt pans, and large alkaline lakes, typically found at sea level or low elevations in tropical and subtropical regions.
Their diet consists primarily of brine shrimp (Artemia salina), diatoms, blue-green algae, insect larvae, and other small crustaceans, which they filter from shallow waters.
American Flamingos are highly social and diurnal, spending their days foraging and resting in large, often spectacular, flocks. Their unique foraging strategy involves wading into shallow waters, inverting their heads, and using their specialized bills to filter small invertebrates, diatoms, and ...
The American Flamingo's primary range spans across the Caribbean islands, including the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Bonaire, Aruba, Curaçao, and the Turks and Caicos, as well as the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Breeding populations are also found along the coastal regions of northern South America...
Least Concern
- The iconic pink or reddish color of American Flamingos comes entirely from beta-carotene pigments in their diet, particularly brine shrimp and algae; without these pigments, their feathers would be pale. - Flamingo chicks are fed 'crop milk,' a nutrient-rich secretion from the parent's upper di...