Hybrid Flamingo? (1 Viewer)

[kuzeycem]

Hi everyone,

My friend Cenk Polat took these photos on 8 May in Lake Kulu, Konya. We have had a Lesser Flamingo there since 2009 and another Lesser Flamingo was also found there in 2015 though that one apparently died due to injuries.

In the photos you can see the long staying Lesser with a curious looking bird. It is darker and smaller than Greater with a dark red eye and darker pink bill. But it also appears to be not a Lesser either. So maybe a hybrid? Cenk says they were hanging out all the time as a pair.

The same bird was also seen by Silas Olofson in 2015, who did a blog post about it. He also thought it was a hybrid.
https://birdingturkey.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/lesser-flamingos-and-a-hybrid/

Thanks for your help.

 

[Fiscalshrike]

Hi everyone,

My friend Cenk Polat took these photos on 8 May in Lake Kulu, Konya. We have had a Lesser Flamingo there since 2009 and another Lesser Flamingo was also found there in 2015 though that one apparently died due to injuries.

In the photos you can see the long staying Lesser with a curious looking bird. It is darker and smaller than Greater with a dark red eye and darker pink bill. But it also appears to be not a Lesser either. So maybe a hybrid? Cenk says they were hanging out all the time as a pair.

The same bird was also seen by Silas Olofson in 2015, who did a blog post about it. He also thought it was a hybrid.
https://birdingturkey.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/lesser-flamingos-and-a-hybrid/

Thanks for your help.

It looks very much like a lesser flamingo to me. Why do you think it is not? Sorry, but I am uncertain as to the location you gave. Here is a link to the discriptor page of one flamingo website. I cannot copy just the picture, but if you scroll down, you will see lesser flamingos from Lake Nakuru, Kenya that look very much like what you describe.
http://www.flamingos-world.com/lesser-flamingo/
What do you think now? Perhaps you can point out what you think makes it a hybrid?

 

[kuzeycem]

It is much paler and has a paler and more contrasting bill. You can actually compare it with both species of flamingo in the third pic. It looks like neither of them

 

[Fiscalshrike]

Okay, see it now. Now I have no idea.