7. The Lesser Flamingo

Phoenicopterus minor

Size 90 -105 cm M/F alike

CHARACTERISTICS: The Lesser is the smallest of the flamingos.  Flamingos are very social, you will normally see them in large flocks of at least a few hundreds, sometimes different species are seen together. Even during breeding they will perform the ritual postures in a synchronised manner as a group. It is really quite interesting to see all of them together make the same moves. We caught a group ‘marching’ up and down in a synchronised step.  Once in a while you will suddenly see them stretch out a wing and the same side leg – seeing a whole group do it like a yoga stretch is quite amazing. These are very noisy birds, they make loud honking sounds and a lot of guttural grunts and growls which can put some animals to shame.  

  

Distribution: Flamingos are tropical and sub tropical birds. The Lesser Flamingos that we see in India are an African species. The Flamingos start arriving to the Western coast of India, specifically the Rann of Kutch, around August each year from the freezing Siberian plains, to breed. Then they start moving to other parts of the country as the pressure of numbers increase. With the advent of summer in April they will make the trip back to Siberia.I am lucky to be close to two Flamingo haunts viz Bhigwan near Solapur, Maharashtra and the Sewri mudflats of Mumbai. Ideally the flamingo would like to stay put in one place but because of climate change and changes in water level they have to migrate to more conducive breeding grounds.  Interestingly, flamingos migrate mostly at night to avoid predatory birds. If you see a flock of birds in the dead of night in a clear, cloudless sky making some honking sounds, you would know they are our pink coloured, long legged friends. 

DIET: Their diet consists of algae, water insects, shrimps and molluscs. In fact the flamingo’s colour comes from the alpha and beta carotenoid pigments it gets in its diet. Its bill is used like a plough by putting up side down, at a seemingly awkward angle, head submerged in the water. The fish and insects in the shallow water or mud gets caught and filtered inside the comb edged bill. You will catch the flamingos stirring up the creatures by moving their feet in the water.

BREEDING : Flamingos lay a single large chalky egg atop a nesting mound. Both parents take turns incubating the egg and also in performing parental duties. The egg incubates for upto a month where after the chick emerges using a ‘egg tooth’ (it is actually a growth on the beak) to break the shell. The chick is born with a straight red bill, which will curve only after almost 3 months, and plump red feet which after a couple of days turn black. Both parents feed their chicks a red secretion referred to as ‘milk’. The chicks start the socialising pattern of the adults by gathering in large groups which are called, guess what! – ‘creches’ but the adults can recognise their chick by its call at feeding time. The pigments in the ‘milk’ are stored by the chick in its liver to be used in its feathers as an adult. 

Some other facts :  

• Flamingos have been long hunted for their plumage.

• The flamingo performs all aspects of its life in large colonies - mating, nesting, incubating the egg, feeding the young, migrating.

• While community living is common amongst many birds it is more prevalent amidst larger birds on the lower rung of the evolutionary ladder.