From Opus

Photo by christ34
Photo taken: Camargue, France.

Phoenicopterus roseus

[edit] Identification

Length 120-145cm
Wing span 140-170cm
Adult

• White, tinged pink
• Red wing coverts
• Black flight feathers
• Decurved bill is dark pink with black tip
• Legs pink and extremely long
  

Juvenile
Grey-brown with whitish underparts

[edit] Similar Species

Chilean Flamingo has grey legs with pink knees.

[edit] Distribution

Southern Europe and Mediterranean basin to South Africa and Indian subcontinent

[edit] Taxonomy

Photo by swarovskiuser
Lesvos, Greece, May 2008

Often considered conspecific with the Caribbean Flamingo (P. ruber) of the Americas.

[edit] Habitat

Salt pans and large bodies of shallow water, inland and coastal; saline and brackish waters preferred.

[edit] Behaviour

Highly gregarious

[edit] Vocalisation

Loud cackles (reminiscent of Greylag Goose)

[edit] References

1. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
2. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
3. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links