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The Chilean Flamingos are filtration feeders who hunt by holding their bill partially emerged and sweeping it from side to side sucking in water.
photo: Tom Gillespie
Characteristics: This species measures 42-44 inches (105-110 cm) from the bill to the tip of the tail. Males and females look alike, however the males are a good bit taller and larger then the females. This species of flamingo has light pink plumage with a roseate color and some black on the secondaries and primaries. The iris is a pale yellow and the bills half black terminally and half whitish. The legs are gray to light blue with dark red joints and toes.
Immature birds have grayish plumage with yellow legs and bluish joints. This species is distinguished from the Andean Flamingo (of which it is sometimes regarded as a subspecies) by its more roseate color, much less conspicuous black on the primaries and the lack of a vivacious area on the neck. Some also consider this species a race of the Greater Flamingo as well. Their voice is a babbling and honking sound. They are usually very noisy birds.
The Chilean Flamingo is found in Central and Southern highlands of Peru. They also live in similar regions of Chile from Tarpaca to Magalanes and live in Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and throughout Argentina. They inhabit salt water and fresh water lakes in the mountains where severe weather is common. The lakes are covered with ice much of the year.The flock will spend time in warm water springs when the nights are cold.
Diet: The Chilean Flamingos are filtration feeders who hunt by holding their bill partially emerged and sweeping it from side to side sucking in water. The water is then forced out through lamellae on which microscopic organisms are caught and eaten. They also eat insect larvae. The color of their plumage is dependent on the amount of Beta-carotene consumed in their diet. In the wild this comes mostly from the brine shrimp they eat. In captivity at the N.C. Zoo they are fed flamingo pelted diet made by Mazuri Corporation. They pellets resemble dry dog food and are placed in large troths of water where it softens and can then be filtered by the birds. The diet has complete nutritional value for these birds including Beta-carotene in the form of Canthaxathin that allows the birds plumage to keep its roseate color.
Reproduction: This species of Flamingo breeds is the highlands of Peru where very little has been studied due to the rough terrain of their environment. Attempts to track flocks and investigate have proven futile. The birds build nest mounds of mud and vegetation that stand 1-2 feet off the ground with a depression the top to hold the eggs. Generally one to three chalky white eggs are laid. Both parents care for the young and incubate the eggs for 28-31 days. The nests tend to be built fairly close together. One location in Salar de Sarine had 1500 nests in very close proximity.
Young birds are fed regurgitated algae until their own filtration system can develop. They remain in or close to the nest for several weeks. Young birds will not reach maturity until 3 years of age. Their feathers will gradually become pink over this period of time.
Environmental Connections: Evidence of flamingos has been found in many cultures of early civilization. Paintings of flamingos were found on a Spanish cave that were thought to be painted by the Stone Age men of 5000 BC. In Egypt the flamingo hieroglyph stands for the color red. In Czechoslovakia, a Celtic bronze saddle mount dating 3rd century BC had flamingo heads on it.
It is belived that the description of the Phoenix rising from the ashes in the Christian Bible is actually a description of a flamingo in its breeding grounds (often in volcanic lava flows). In addition the croquet mallets used in Lewis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland” in her game against the hedgehogs were flamingos. These beautiful birds have long been exploited for their flesh and eggs. The Phoenicians bartered dried flamingos to the barbarians of Cornwall and the Netherlands for goods of amber and tin. They passed them off as the fabled Phoenix, which would give the owner immortality. More recently they are threatened mostly by the encroachment of civilization.
Destruction of their habitat to build roadways, deforestation and pollution of their environment and commercial use of their lakes and waterways have all had enormous tolls on the wild population of Chilean Flamingos.
References:
- Soothill, Eric and Richard – 1981 – “A guide to the Birds of Panama, Princeton University Press
- Lear, Janet and Nicoel Hall – 1975 – “Flamingos” The Wildflower Trust
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