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 S. Peru, Bolivia, N. Chile and NW Argentina. It is closely related to the smaller James's Flamingo.
Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.
Andean Flamingos, like all the group, 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 that has yellow legs and feet. Its bill is yellowish as in James's Flamingo, but with a much more extensive black tip.
