American Flamingo

The American Flamingo is a large, unmistakable wading bird with extremely long, thin legs, a long curved neck, and a large, sharply downward-bent bill adapted for filter feeding. It is the brightest colored of all flamingo species, with a deep pink-orange body plumage, and shows red and black on the wings when in flight, as the primary and secondary flight feathers are black.

Key Field Marks

• Bright reddish-pink to orange-pink plumage, deeper than other flamingo species
• Pink legs
• Bicolored bill: pale pink or white base with a black tip
• Sharply downturned bill shape

Similar Species

• Greater Flamingo — much paler pink overall, with pale legs
• Chilean Flamingo — grey legs with pink joints, and generally paler plumage

Range

Caribbean islands, the Yucatán Peninsula, the Galápagos Islands, and coastal northern South America (Venezuela, Colombia); rare vagrant to Florida, where a small resident population also occurs in Florida Bay.

Habitat

Shallow saline and alkaline coastal lagoons, salt pans, and mudflats.

Movements

Largely sedentary, though flocks can move locally or regionally in response to water levels and food availability.

Feeding

Highly social, feeding and roosting in large flocks. Wades through shallow water, sweeping its upside-down bill side to side through mud or water to filter out algae, small crustaceans such as brine shrimp, and mollusks using comb-like structures (lamellae) inside the bill. Its pink-orange coloration comes from carotenoid pigments obtained through this diet.

Resting

Often stands on one leg while resting, likely to help conserve body heat.

Nesting and Breeding

A colonial nester, building mud mound nests on open flats. Lays a single egg per attempt, and both parents feed the chick with a nutrient-rich crop secretion often called "crop milk."

Voice

Goose-like honking calls, especially in flight or within flocks.