Phoenicopterus ruber - Greater Flamingo
Feather characters. Barbules are rather short (0.5-1.0 mm) and are not pigmented. Borders between cells are visible, but hardly swollen and thus too small to qualify as nodes. These nodal structures (12-20 per mm) have about the same size along the entire length of the barbules, only slightly decreasing towards the tip. Villi are absent and internodes are straight. Short prongs may occur along the entire length and mostly on one side of the pennulum, but they are unequally distributed. Their length varies; in some preparations, only minute prongs are found. The longest prongs are longer than 0.01 mm, but shorter than half the length of the adjacent internode.
Field characters. Size 125-145 cm. Weight: male 3540 g (3100-4100), female 2530 g (2100-3300) (Dunning, 1993). Large, unmistakable, pink-and-white waterbird with enormously long legs and neck, and peculiar downcurved bill. In flight, scarlet wing coverts contrast with black flight-feathers; flies with legs and neck fully extended. Bill black at tip, pink at remainder; legs pink.
Voice. Goose-like; a babbling noise on ground and a resonant honking in flight.
Distribution. Breeds locally in relatively large colonies; highly gregarious outside the breeding season. Map: see MapIt.
Habitat. Restricted to shallow and open brackish or saline lagoons, deltas, or large lakes.
Food. Mainly crustaceans, insects, small invertebrates, molluscs, annelids, protozoa, diatoms, algae and seeds. Feeds by walking in shallow water with head submerged between legs.