American Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber Scientific name definitions

The American Flamingo is the only flamingo distributed through the Caribbean Sea, the northern coasts of South America, and on the Galapagos. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) of the Old World. Like other flamingos, it feeds in saline and brackish lagoons by straining water through the lamellae on its unique bill and swallowing the invertebrate organisms trapped inside. The American tends to feed somewhat deeper than other flamingos, with the head and often much of the neck submerged. While most populations build mud nests in large colonies on mudflats or islands, the birds on the Galapagos nest on piles of stones and debris in small clusters on bare, rocky islands.

120–145 cm; 2100–4100 g; wingspan 140–165 cm. Much brighter coloured  than Greater Flamingo  , adult has a pinkish-red head, neck  and body  plumage. Female up to 20% smaller and shorter-legged. Juvenile  grey-brown with some pink in underparts, wings and tail; legs, feet and bill mainly brown. Variable subadult plumages during first three years or so. The isolated Galápagos population differs genetically from that in the Caribbean. Galápagos birds are also smaller, largely due to shorter tarsus length, and lay smaller eggs than Caribbean populations (1 Frias-Soler, R., Tindle, E., Espinosa Lopez, G., Blomberg, S., Studer-Thiersch, A., Wink, M. and Tindle, R. (2014). Genetic and phenotypic evidence supports evolutionary divergence of the American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) population in the Galápagos Islands. Waterbirds. 37(4): 349–361. Close ). 

Previously considered conspecific with P. roseus, but they are now generally accepted to be two distinct species. P. ruber differs in  its pinkish-red, not pinkish-white, head, neck and body plumage (4);  white-based pinkish-red vs all-pink bill (3); more black around tip of bill (1). Birds of Galapagos sometimes separated as race glyphorhynchus. Monotypic.

• Chilean x American Flamingo (hybrid) Phoenicopterus chilensis x ruber

Caribbean; isolated population in Galapagos Is.

Saline lagoons and salt pans are typically used for feeding and nesting.  Nests at low altitudes, in coastal locations.  

Partially migratory and highly dispersive. Some southward post-breeding movement reported in northern populations. There were 27 recoveries in Cuba during 1966–2000 of birds ringed as juveniles elsewhere: 22 from the Bahamas and five from Yucatán, Mexico (2 Blanco, P., Sánchez, B. and Del Pozo, P. (2002). Recapturas del Flamenco Rosado (Phoenicopterus ruber) en Cuba durante el período de 1966 al 2111261112611126. El Pitirre. 15(1): 31–33. Close ). Daily movements of breeding birds in search of food have been reported in some years between colony on Bonaire I, Netherlands Overseas Territory, and Venezuela , a distance of some 90 km. A record of 140 flying N in Dec 2008 in Bolívar state, SE Venezuela, was unprecedented for S of the country (3 Crease, A. (2009). Avian range extensions from the southern headwaters of the río Caroní, Gran Sabana, Bolívar, Venezuela. Cotinga 31:5–19. Close ). The small Galápagos population is sedentary.

Relatively varied diet. Animal food consists of aquatic invertebrates, e.g. crustaceans (Artemia, Gammarus, copepods), molluscs (Cerithidea, Cerithium, Paludestrina, Neritina, Gemma, Macoma), annelids (Nereis) and insects, including larvae or chrysalids of Diptera (Ephydra, Chironomus, Thinophilus) and corixids (Sigaria, Micronecta); plant matter consists largely of seeds or stolons of marsh grasses (Ruppia, Scirpus, Juncus, Cyperus), also algae, diatoms and decaying leaves. Occasionally takes adult insects, e.g. waterbeetles (Coleoptera) or ants (Formicoidae); also crabs (Dotilla) and perhaps small fish (Cyprinodon). Sometimes ingests mud, in order to extract organic matter, especially bacteria. Normally feeds with head, and often most of neck , completely submerged , while walking along steadily; only occasionally filters on surface , in style of P. minor. Also treads ground to loosen surface and bring out prey.

Commonest call  (both perched and in flight) is a goose-like double honk  “ka-hank” or “ka-rrak”, uttered with a tonal quality ranging from nasal trumpeting to hoarse barking. Also a conversational low-pitched “kok-kok-kok...” and a nasal “nyaah”. Large feeding flocks typically maintain a continuous “kucking”.

Timing variable in most of tropics and subtropics. Environmental conditions, especially water depths at nesting sites, which are often rainfall-dependent, may determine whether or not breeding occurs, its timing and the numbers involved. Lay chiefly in May in Mexico and Mar–Jun in Bahamas. Breeds in large, dense colonies, although those in the Galápagos are necessarily small: 3–50 pairs. The nest is normally a truncated mud cone with a shallow bowl on top. On rocky, mudless islands the nest is small pile of stones and debris. Clutch is one egg , rarely two; incubation  27–31 days; chicks have pale grey down, quickly replaced by second darker coat of down ; fledging 65–90 days. Provisioning of chicks with 'flamingo milk' (see family introduction: Food and Feeding) is relatively infrequent.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Global population currently thought to number over 200,000 birds, of which 129,000–217,000 in the Bahamas/Cuba, 40,000 in Mexico, 50,000 in S Caribbean and 490 in Galápagos Is. The species has shown a marked recovery since the 1990s, when the global population was estimated at only c. 80,000–90,000 birds, at four main colonies, in Mexico, Cuba, Bahamas and the former Netherlands Antilles, following destruction or modification of former breeding sites. In 2003 50,000 pairs nested at the Río Máximo reserve, Cuba (4 Jiménez, A., López, R., Rodríguez, A. and Morales, J. (2008). Dinamica temporal, uso de habitat y patron de actividad diurno del flamenco (Phoenicopterus r. ruber) en tres habitat del Refugio de Fauna Rio Máximo, Cuba. J. Carib. Orn.. 21: 18–25. Close ). Breeding in mainland Venezuela at the Ciénaga de Los Olivitos reserve has occurred since 1987 (5 Casler, C. L., Esté, E. E. and Pardo, H. M. (1994). Breeding of the Greater Flamingo in Western Venezuela. Colonial Waterbirds. 17(1): 28–34. Close ): 5200 nests were occupied there in Jun 2006. Recent breeding has also been reported in the Dominican Republic, in 2008 (6 Garrido, E., León, Y., M., Arias, Y. and Perdomo, L. (2010). Nidificación reciente del Flamenco (Phoenicopterus ruber) en República Dominicana. J. Carib. Orn.. 23: 50–51. Close ). The isolated population of the Galápagos is stable at 400–500 birds but is clearly vulnerable to natural disasters and predation by pigs and other introduced species (7 Wiedenfeld, D. A., and G. A. Jiménez-Uzcátegui (2008). Critical problems for bird conservation in the Galápagos Islands. Cotinga. 29:22–27. Close ). The species has suffered from habitat loss and disturbance as well as direct persecution by humans. It has benefited, however, from specific measures taken to protect the breeding colonies and to establish new ones. In Cuba the population was threatened by hunting and habitat degradation prior to 1978, when a species protection plan was implemented, resulting in population recovery and a continuing increase in numbers; management measures taken there at the principal colonies of the Río Máximo reserve include regulation of salinity and control of water levels to prevent egg losses due to flooding (8 Acosta, M., L. Mugica, O. Torres, D. Denis, A. Jiménez, and A. Rodríguez (2004). Current status of Cuban threatened birds: case studies of conservation programs. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 17(Special Issue): 52–58. Close ). The species breeds fairly well in captivity.