James's Flamingo

James's Flamingo, also known as the Puna Flamingo, is the smallest of the three high-Andean flamingo species and among the smallest flamingos in the world. It has pale pink plumage with a carmine-red line down the neck, deep red wing coverts, and distinctive brick-red to orange legs. Its bill is short, mostly bright yellow with only a small black tip, an adaptation for skimming diatoms from the surface film of alkaline lakes.

It was long thought extinct before being rediscovered breeding on remote Andean salt lakes in the 1950s, and it remains one of the least-studied flamingo species due to the remoteness of its habitat.

Key field marks

• Small size, the smallest of the Andean flamingos
• Bright brick-red to orange legs
• Short bill, mostly yellow with a small black tip
• Carmine streak down the foreneck

Similar species

• Andean Flamingo is larger with yellow legs and a longer, mostly black bill.
• Chilean Flamingo has gray legs with pink joints, not solid red legs.
• Often seen mixed with the other two species on shared Andean lakes.

Habitat

Restricted almost entirely to high-altitude saline lakes and salt flats of the Andean altiplano, typically above 3,500 meters.

Range

Breeds in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, with non-breeding birds also occurring in Peru.

Migration

Moves seasonally between remote high-altitude breeding lakes and lower-elevation lakes in winter.

Behavior

Feeds by walking slowly through shallow water, skimming the surface film with its shallow-keeled bill rather than filtering mud like larger flamingos.

Voice

Honking and cackling calls, generally higher-pitched than those of larger flamingo species.

Feeding

Specializes on diatoms and microscopic algae skimmed from the water's surface layer.

Nesting

Breeds in dense colonies on remote salt lakes, building mud mound nests; lays a single white egg.