(The next one will be my tenth...sweet, huh? I'm going to start abbreviating the title to Zoo's A.A.F. I figure 10 installments constitutes a series and every proper series has an abbreviation.  Just a heads up for when that happens...most likely this weekend)

Hey, welcome back.   Time for some more zoological knowledge from yours truly. For this edition I'm going to take one of Kelly's suggestions and go with the....

Caribbean Flamingo (AKA American flamingo, rosy flamingo) Phoenicopterus ruber ruber

The Greater flamingo, Chilean flamingo, and Caribbean flamingo are thought to be conspecific, which is to say that they're the same species.  The only difference is their range, really...and color variations.  The Caribbean version is the really pink one...so I figure it would be the best to go with.  Now without further ado, let's meet our fine feathered friend.

Behold the pink majesty!

Physical Characteristics:

They're the largest of flamingo species(along with the greater and Chilean) being 3.9–4.75ft (~1.2–1.45m) tall. Males weigh in around 6lbs(~2.7kg) while females are about 5lbs(~2.1kg).  Females are approximately 10–20% smaller than males.  Their wingspans are approximately 4.9 ft(~1.5m).

Adults are a bright pink to rosy red color, the flight feathers are black.  The pink color comes from alpha and beta carotene which their diet is rich in. The bill is pink with a black tip, and legs are pink with darker pink joints. Hatchlings are dark or light gray and downy with bright red legs and straight red bill. Juveniles are gray-brown and acquire pale pink upper wing panels and pink tinged to gray legs and bill at 11 months. At four years, body plumage and lower portion of bill is still grayer than the adults.  Their legs are long and slender, designed for wading.  They also have webbed feet.

A little 'follow the leader', I guess.

The bill is quite unique.  It is thick with a sharply down turned angle.  The lower bill is much thicker than the upper. The upper is not attached to the skull, but moves when feeding like the lower bill of other birds.  The gap of the open bill is the same along its entire length, which provides a more efficient means of filtration.  The inner surface of the bill has has rows of keratinous plates( lamellae) covered with cilia for filtration.  It serves the same purpose as baleen in whales.  The tongue fits into a deep groove in the lower bill and acts as a piston to pump water in and out and it also has backward facing spines to guide food down the throat.

Say, "Ah."

Habitat:

Galapagos and Caribbean and all areas in between with occasional ventures up to Florida.  Breeding grounds are in the Galapagos Islands, coastal Colombia and Venezuela and nearby islands, the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and in the northern Caribbean in the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Cuba and Turks and Caicos.

Their homes of choice are shallow saline and alkaline lakes and lagoons. 

Places kinda like this:

Diet:

Filter feeder.  It sieves aquatic invertebrates, seeds, algae, and diatoms from the water and mud.  That's pretty much all it does.

Oh, the young eat 'crop milk.'  It's a secretion of the upper digestive tract stimulated by the hormone, prolactin. Crop milk is dark red in color and very high in fat and protein and is produced by both male and female birds.(Yummy. )

Behavior:

Diurnal and gregarious.  They can live in huge flocks from a mere few hundred to hundreds of thousands.(That's a lotta birds)  There are ritualized movements of wings and head accompanied by gooselike calls used to communicate with one another.

To feed a flamingo holds its head upside down in shallow water sweeping side to side while the tongue pumps water in and out 5-6 times a second and filters out food items with its lamellae.  They may also pick up and swallow larger prey, though this is uncommon.  To scare up prey several methods can be used usually involving moving the feet or bill to stir up the sediment as well as simply skimming plankton off the top.

Flamingos can swim like any other waterfowl.  They can also fly.  Take off requires a short run, facing the wind with wings flapping.  They are able to reach speeds of 31-37 mi/hr(50-60 km/hr) with continuous, rapid flapping.  Flamingos fly with neck and legs outstretched much like cranes or storks and tend to keep a loose "V" or diagonal formation like geese and cranes.

Aggression is pretty low, but when a flamingo is ticked off there are a few ways they show their displeasure with one another: bill-fighting -where they try to bite each others head and bill, chasing, and threatening displays with wings outstretched and possible growling vocalizations.

There are several breeding displays: wing salutes, wing-leg stretch, twist-preening, head flagging, head shaking, marching, and bowing.

They are opportunistic, erratic breeders usually mating season is triggered by rainfall.  They become sexually mature and breed for the first time at 5-6 years, whenever they are fully colored.  Juveniles with adolescent plumage do not engage in breeding behavior.  They form long term pair bonds that can last through several breeding seasons.  The female lays a single large, elongated, white egg with a reddish colored yolk in a mud nest close to or in shallow water.(above the waterline of course)  Incubation period 27–31 days; fledging 65–90 days. Both parents incubate and care for young, which gather into groups.  Lifespan is usually up to 20 years in the wild(more is certainly possible).  Up to 60 years in captivity.

Awww....

Interesting Facts:

In many languages, the word flamingo (originally derived from the Portuguese for 'red goose'), is a reference to their flying formation and the noise they make.

Flamingos are an ancient group of birds. Their fossil records dates back to the Miocene epoch, which is about 10 million years ago.

Egyptian hieroglyphics use the flamingo as a symbol for “red”

Flamingos are consistently rated among the most popular attractions in zoological parks.

By eating blue-green algae, flamingos help control the algae level in many wetlands.

Flamingos have a salt secreting gland above their eyes that eliminates excess salt they pick up while feeding.

They have 19 vertebrae in their neck compared to a human's 7.

Oh...and let's not forget the tacky icon:

Fashionable!

Well, that'll do it for the Caribbean flamingo.  Hope you had fun.

~Zoo