![]() ![]() They are non-migratory: a colony would only leave an area if the climate or lack of food calls for it.Their name comes from the Portuguese or Spanish term flamengo, which means “flame coloured.” A group of flamingos is called a colony.It learns to run at the age of one week, grows feathers at four weeks olds, and learns to fly when 12 weeks old. At 6 days old, chicks join a crèche with thousands of other chicks. Chicks must learn to recognize the call of their parents. After the chick hatches it is fed "crop milk", a substance which comes from the adult bird's upper digestive tract. The female lays one egg, and incubation lasts about 28 days, carried out in 24-hour shifts by both parents. Both parents build a nest of mud as high as 30 cm to keep it cool and protect it from flooding. Mating season usually starting in the last quarter, from October to December. They breed in colonies that number thousands of birds. These birds often form subgroups within larger groups.įlamingos are serially monogamous and the pair tends to remain together while they are able to produce young. The adults are able to identify their offspring through its sounds. ![]() Hearing also plays an important role for communication both between adults and for chicks and parents. They flash their wing's back feathers to communicate. Eyesight is important for group activities. Lesser flamingos have no sense of smell and not much sense of taste. Even when food is plentiful, flocks may sometimes fly between water sources during the day. They fly between water bodies in large, V-shaped formations when food sources have become depleted. Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including marabou stork, baboon, African fish eagle, African wildcat, and African golden wolfįlamingos do not migrate and they live in big colonies with sometimes more than 1 million birds. Their deep bill is specialised for filtering tiny food items. Although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink colour. Presence of flamingo groups near water bodies is indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use. This species feeds primarily on Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes. The lesser flamingo may be the most numerous species of flamingo, with a population that (at its peak) probably numbered up to two million individual birds. Size is less helpful unless the species are together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height. The clearest difference between this species and the greater flamingo, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. The total length (from beak to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from 90 to 105 cm (35 to 41 in). The standing height is around 80 to 90 cm (31 to 35 in). The species can weigh from 1.2 to 2.7 kg (2.6 to 6.0 lb). The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The feathers of juvenile are brown and they have a dark grey beak. Their eyes are orange to yellow, surrounded by a ring of maroon. They posses the "hallux" or hind toe that some other flamingos do not have. ![]() ![]() The wings are narrow and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black, and their wing coverts are red. They have a bill of deep red, tipped with black. The Lesser flamingo is the smallest of all flamingos native to Africa and are have the largest number of population among the Flamingo species. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |