Flamenco Austral

Description:

Length between 80 and 120 cms. Weight between 6 and 7 kilograms. Light pink plumage, with darker areas near the tail. Pink, black primary and secondary wings. The bill is large, broad, curved downwards, light in color closest to the head, and black in the most extreme part. Tarsi bluish bone color with red knee and legs. Yellow eyes. Immature and juvenile with brownish tones and brown legs.

Habitat:

It's widely distributed throughout South America, found in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. In Chile it is found from the Arica and Parinacota region to Tierra del Fuego. It lives in shallow waters, fresh or salt water, from the coast to 4600 m.a.s.l. It is more abundant in the extremes of the country.

Notes:

Small invertebrates and aquatic plants. Its specialized beak characteristically has lamellae (filtering lamellae) on its edge. By filling its beak with water and expelling it with the tongue, the food is retained in them. It nests in shallow, solitary Andean lagoons, where it builds a muddy nest similar to a cone without a tip and shaped like a cup, where it places a white and calcareous egg (average size 93 × 52 millimeters approx.) Threats: Egg collection, water extraction for irrigation, mining, hunting and tourism, which augurs a moderately rapid population decline over the next 3 generations.