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| Greater flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus |
Greater Flamingo: Phoenicopterus roseus. Rosy Flamingo. Locally known as Agni Pankh for obvious reasons.
The feathers, beak and legs are colored brilliant pink to orange depending upon the stuff they eat. Algae and crustaceans they eat contain carotenoids - just like those in our diet such as carrots, coloured capsicum etc. - which are ,metabolized in their liver to form the pigment. Those flamingos which haven't fed enough on the blue-green alga and crustaceans/plankton are pale to white in colour. As the flamingo on extreme left, right and center of the above photograph. After a few weeks of feeding - by mid-February- they'll be brilliantly colored.
Greater Flamingos are widespread in distribution. They aren't found in Antartica and Australia. Their Caribbean cousins are more orange than pink due to the carotenoid variety in their diet.
These birds live in large flocks of thousands of birds. At Kumbhargaon-Diksal, there were about 500-600 of them scattered over the shallow wetland area.
They have long flexible necks, tall limbs and distinctive beaks designed to dredge the shallow water for blue-green algae and plankton.
Salty estuaries are their natural habitat. Flamingos are present in large numbers in the Kutch are of Gujarat in India for this reason. Being filter feeders, the hostile environment of saline mud flats and estuaries serve to reduce competition and predators.
These birds are 1.5 metres tall approximately and with their necks up straight, and a wingspan that's longer. Look at their flight below:
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| Greater flamingo - Flight of a Flock Phoenicopterus roseus |
The bird leading the flock is their tribal 'neta'.
Flamingos bury their bills, and even heads, in the water sucking up the slurry rich in algae and plankton. Their bills contain filters which separate the foot from water. In days gone by, Flamingo tongues were sought after as a delicacy. Imagine that!
Flamingos bury their bills, and even heads, in the water sucking up the slurry rich in algae and plankton. Their bills contain filters which separate the foot from water. In days gone by, Flamingo tongues were sought after as a delicacy. Imagine that!
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| Greater flamingo dredging for food Phoenicopterus roseus |
Known to do elaborate courtship dances - singly or as couples - the bloke in center is trying to attract such attention. Wouldn't be surprised if the "Famenco" was based on the dances of Flamingos.
Males are slightly larger than females of the population. Females wear their pink earlier and brighter!
Flamingos gather in large flocks but they are not averse to be in mixed populations, being quite social birds, with Lesser Flamingos, which are smaller, or other shallow water feeders.
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| Greater flamingo with other species of birds Phoenicopterus roseus |
In the above photographs they are sharing the feeding area with Glossy Ibises, Ruddy Shelducks, Open-bill Storks. Not included in this photograph but present in the area were Spoonbills, Godwits, Stilts, Gulls, Terns, Cormorants, Shovelers, Purple Moorhens and other species of birds.
Look at how they contort their necks...almost a loop or a knot! (Towards the right in photo above).
There are a few peculiarities like their 'marching' in one direction or the other. As in the image below.
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| Greater flamingo - Marching Phoenicopterus roseus |
The oranger Caribbean Flamingos are not thought to be a separate species. The Lesser Flamingos look a scaled down version of these Greater Flamingos.
When food scarcity hits, they undertake short migrations. Greater Flamingos are easily maintained in zoos etc. where they are fed diet rich in carotenoids to exaggerate their colour.
The above flock is completely wild.
Sharang and I did this trip together.
Photographed at Kumbhargaon, and Diksal,, Maharashtra, India, on 19th January, 2014.
Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm VR Lens
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