PLEASE! If you see any mistakes, I'm 100% sure that I have wrongly identified some birds.
So please let me know on my guestbook at the bottom of the page
Birdwatching in Mumbai, India - Lesser Flamingo

The lesser flamingo (Phoenicoparrus minor) is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, with another population in India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered vagrants. It was moved from the genus Phoeniconaias to Phoenicoparrus in 2014.

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor

Range map
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Characteristics
The Lesser Flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The species can weigh from 1.2 to 2.7 kg. The standing height is around 80 to 90 cm. The total length (from beak to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from 90 to 105 cm.

Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The clearest difference between this species and the greater flamingo, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. Size is less helpful unless the species are together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height.

The lesser flamingo may be the most numerous species of flamingo, with a population that (at its peak) probably numbered up to two million individual birds. This species feeds primarily on Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes. Presence of flamingo groups near water bodies is indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use.

Although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink colour. Their deep bill is specialised for filtering tiny food items. The lesser flamingo also feeds on shrimp.

Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including Marabou Storks, baboons, African Fish Eagles, wildcats, and African golden wolves.

Listen to the Lesser Flamingo

Remarks from the Recordist

Calls from a couple of birds foraging at the edge of a small, drying wetland.

www.xeno-canto.org



Breeding
In Africa, where they are most numerous, the lesser flamingos breed principally on the highly caustic Lake Natron in northern Tanzania. Their other African breeding sites are at Etosha Pan, Sua Pan, and Kamfers Dam. The last confirmed breeding at Aftout es Saheli in coastal Mauritania was in 1965.

Breeding occurred at Lake Magadi in Kenya in 1962 when Lake Natron was unsuitable due to flooding. In the early 20th century, breeding was also observed at Lake Nakuru.

The species also breeds in southwestern and southern Asia. In 1974, they bred at the Rann of Kutch, but since then, only at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria salt pans in northwestern India. Some movement of individuals occurs between Africa and India.

Like all flamingos, they lay a single chalky-white egg on a mound they build of mud. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over 100,000 individuals. The creches are marshalled by a few adult birds that lead them by foot to fresh water, a journey that can reach over 32 km.

Conservation
Despite being the most numerous species of flamingo, it is classified as near threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities.

The population in the two key east African lakes, Nakuru and Bogoria, have been adversely affected in recent years by suspected heavy metal poisoning, while its primary African breeding area in Lake Natron is currently under threat by a proposed soda ash plant by Tata Chemicals. The only breeding site in South Africa, situated at Kamfers Dam, is threatened by pollution and encroaching development.

The lesser flamingo is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies.

Conservation status
Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 9 May 2017
Location: Sewri Mudflats, Mumbai (Flamingo Point)


Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 9 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats

Lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor
Lesser flamingo - Phoeniconaias minor - 11 May 2017 - Sewri Mudflats



PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       

You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011