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Andean Flamingo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

 

Andean Flamingo

Scientific classification

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Aves

Order:

Phoenicopteriformes

Family:

Phoenicopteridae

Genus:

Phoenicopterus

Species:

P. andinus

Binomial name

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. It's population in Northern Chile was badly hit by drought, which cause the breeding lagoon areas to dry up, either preventing nest building, or allowing predation especially from the Culpeo Fox, Pseudalopex culpaeus.

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.

 

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andean_Flamingo&action=history

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