Greater Flamingo

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Greater Flamingo

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Phoenicopteriformes
Family:	Phoenicopteridae
Genus:	Phoenicopterus
Species:	P. roseus

Binomial name

Phoenicopterus roseus
Pallas, 1811

Synonyms

Phoenicopterus antiquorum

The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in parts of Africa, southwest Asia (including Turkey), southern Asia (coastal regions of India) and southern Europe (including Spain, Sardinia, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, and the Camargue region of France). Some populations are short distance migrants, and records north of the breeding range are relatively frequent; however, given the species' popularity in captivity whether these are truly wild individuals is a matter of some debate. A single bird was seen on North Keeling Island (Cocos (Keeling) Islands) in 1988.

(video) A group of Greater Flamingo at Ueno Zoo in Japan.

This is a large species, averaging 120-140cm tall, and is closely related to the Caribbean Flamingo and Chilean Flamingo, with which it is has sometimes been considered conspecific, but that treatment is now widely (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists' Union) as incorrect and based on a lack of evidence.

Like all flamingos, this species lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound.

Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black.

The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Phoenicopterus roseus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.