Caribbean Flamingo
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| Caribbean Flamingo | ||||||||||||||
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| Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus, 1758 |
The Caribbean Flamingo or American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the Greater Flamingo and Chilean Flamingo. It has sometimes been considered conspecific but that treatment is now widely (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists' Union) as incorrect and based on a lack of evidence.
The Caribbean Flamingo breeds in the Galapagos Islands, coastal Colombia and Venezuela and nearby islands, the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and in the northern Caribbean in the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Cuba and Turks and Caicos. Most sightings in southern Florida are usually considered to be escapees, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucatán Peninsula has been sighted in Everglades National Park, and others may be genuine wanderers from Cuba.
The habitat is similar to that of its relatives, including saline lagoons, mudflats and shallow brackish coastal or inland lakes. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood the young for a period of up to 6 years when they reach sexual maturity. Their life expectancy of 40 years is one of the longest in birds.
The Caribbean Flamingo is 120–140 cm in length; males weigh 2.8 kg and females 2.2 kg. Most of their plumage is pink, giving rise to its earlier name of Rosy Flamingo and differentiating adults from the much paler European species. The wing coverts are red, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. It is the only flamingo which naturally inhabits North America.
The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.
The Caribbean Flamingo is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Phoenicopterus ruber. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Studer-Thiersch, A. 1975. Die Flamingos. pp. 239-245 in: B. Grzimek (editor): Grzimeks Tierleben. Vol. 7/1 Vögel. DTV (1980) München, nach Kindler Verlag AG Zurich 1975-1977.
