These anaerobic conditions create a stench that is exacerbated by temperatures that can exceed 120☏. Many have layers of crystalline salts on the surrounding mud flats. Flamingos utilize highly alkaline lakes and lagoons, most of which are twice as salty as sea water. They solved this dilemma by selecting a habitat that is so extreme, they essentially have no competition. Important contributors are brine shrimp and blue-green algae.īecause flamingos occur in such large flocks, finding enough food can be a problem. The pink to crimson colors of flamingo plumages comes from beta carotenoids in their diet. Preferred prey items include brine shrimp ( Artemia), larvae of brine flies ( Ephedra), and some mollusks and fish. It is designed for larger prey, with size determined by the size of the opening between mandibles (gape). The upper mandible of shallow-keeled flamingos is neither thick nor V-shaped, like the deep-keeled, and the strainers are fewer and larger. These flamingos have specialized strainers on the edges of the mandibles that serve as excluders, regulating the size of food that enters. The large surface areas of the sides of the upper and lower mandibles are covered with huge numbers of comb-like platelets that filter small planktonic organisms, such as blue-green algae (cyanobacteria, Spirulina) and diatoms - some the size of a human hair. In deep-keeled strainers, the upper mandible is long and narrow with a deep “V” shape that fits in the V-shaped lower mandible and pretty much fills the oral cavity. Food items are removed from moving water by strainers and passed to the gullet. When the tongue is drawn back, water is brought in, and when the tongue is pushed forward, water moves out. Water enters and leaves the bill along the sides of the two mandibles (gape). The tongue is thick and moves forward and backward in a groove in the lower mandible, much like the plunger in a syringe. Basically, flamingos have a large number of horny, comb-like platelets (lamellae) that function as strainers. In fact, their method of filtering is unique among birds and, among vertebrates, compares most closely to the baleen whales. When feeding, the head is lowered into the water, the bill points backward, and the top of the upper mandible is closest to the sandy bottom and parallel with it.įlamingos are the most specialized filter-feeders of all birds. The bills are very thick and bend sharply downward near the middle of their length. The strange-shaped bills, however, are key to their success. Unlike with all other birds, the lower mandible is larger than the upper. Their legs and necks seem proportionally too long, and their large bills have a weird shape. As individuals, however, they are odd looking. They are graceful in flight and while walking, and they can form huge flocks of a million or more that are a sight to behold. They are beautifully plumed from white to light and deep pink to crimson, and they have black flight feathers.
Subscribe today to BirdWatching magazine for tips, birding hotspots, and much more brought right to you!įlamingos are a paradox of sorts. An American Flamingo forages in a small lagoon in the Galpágos Islands.
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