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American Flamingo

Phoenicopterus ruber

Description:

Young flamingo with fuzzy, light gray plumage and long, black legs. The last image shows the chick with an adult.

Habitat:

San Diego Zoo. "The American Flamingo breeds in the Galápagos, coastal Colombia, Venezuela and nearby islands, besides the Guyanas and Cape Orange in Brazil. It also breeds in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and in the northern Caribbean in the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Most sightings in southern Florida are usually considered to be escapees, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucatán Peninsula has been sighted in Everglades National Park, and others may be wanderers from Cuba." - Wikipedia

Notes:

Flamingos lay "a single chalky white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood the young for a period of up to 6 years when they reach sexual maturity. Their life expectancy of 40 years is one of the longest in birds. After the chicks hatch, the only parental expense is feeding. Flamingos produce a crop milk, like pigeons and doves, due to the action of a hormone called prolactin (see Columbidae). It contains more fat and less protein than the latter does, and it is produced in glands lining the whole of the upper digestive tract, not just the crop. Both parents nurse their chick, and young flamingos feed on this milk, which also contains red and white blood cells. In the first six days, the adults and chicks stay in the nesting sites. At around seven to twelve days the chicks begin to move and explore their surroundings. After two weeks, the chicks join groups called "microcrèches" and their parent soon leave them in these groups. Later, many microcrèches come together to form crèches which contain thousands of chicks. Chicks that do not stay in their crèches are vulnerable to predators." - Wikipedia

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San Diego, California, USA

Spotted on Jun 28, 2012
Submitted on Jun 29, 2012

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Reference

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