Species Fact Profile: Lesser Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus minor)

                                                                  Lesser Flamingo

                                            Phoenicoparrus minor (G. Saint-Hilaire, 1879)

Range: Sub-Saharan Africa (and Yemen), with disjunct populations on coastal Madagascar.  A smaller population exists in South Asia (eastern Pakistan and western India).

Habitat:  Alkaline and Salt Lakes, Wetlands, Mudflats.  Prefer lakes with high levels of sodium and potassium salts, as well as calcium and magnesium ions

Diet:  Microscopic blue-green algae (such as Spirulina, Oscillatoria, and Lyngbya), Small Aquatic Invertebrates

Social Grouping: Flocks of up to 1,000,000 Birds

Reproduction:  Courtship behavior is initiated by males in ritualized group displays, which may occur year round but increase during the breeding season (typically October through February).  These consist of head and neck movements, walking forward in an erect posture, snapping their bills, vocalizing, and giving wing salutes.  Females may copulate with several males during a single breeding season. Single chalk-white/blue egg (rarely two) is laid in a conical-shaped, flat-topped mound built of mud, rising 15-20 centimeters out of the water.  Flamingos nest colonially, with nests typically 1-2 meters away from one another.  They may defend the area immediately around their nest from other flamingos.  Both parents incubate the egg for 28-31 days, taking turns going off to forage.  As the chick hatches, parents will call to it to help it imprint.  Chicks weigh about 50 grams at hatching.  Fledge at 70-90 (usually 75 days)

Lifespan: 25-30 Years (over 40 Years in Zoos)

      Conservation Status:  IUCN Near Threatened.  CITES Appendix II

• Smallest of the flamingo species.  90-125 centimeters tall (this includes the long neck – the typical standing height is 80-90 centimeters) with a wingspan of 1-1.1 meters.  Weight 1.5-2.7 kilograms, with males being heavier and taller than females.  The feet are fully webbed. 
• Both sexes look alike.  Plumage is pinkish-white, the result of photosynthetic pigments in the flamingos’ food, some darker markings on the back and wings.  Chicks are born with a gray natal coat (paler on the underside) that is replaced with a courser, browner coat at about two weeks of age.  Eyes are gold with a purple ring around them.  The legs are red
• The curved black bill (with dark red towards the tip) is specialized for filtering algae near the surface of the water and is outfitted with up to 10,000 microscopic lamellae
• Although found across a very broad range, the species primarily breeds in the Rift Valley lakes of East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania), with smaller breeding congregations in West Africa, South Africa, and South Asia.  The species has a network of potential breeding sites throughout its range and responds to environmental stressors by shifting from one to another
• Vagrants may be found as far to the northwest as Morocco and Spain; vagrants from the Asian population may be found as far west as Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.
• Migrates from feeding grounds to inland breeding colonies where it gathers in the thousands upon thousands, often in association with the greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus).  The timing of the breeding season depends upon the rains (flooding is necessary to isolate the breeding site from terrestrial predators, as well as to provide mud for nesting); sometimes years may pass without a population being able to breed.  
•  Upon fledging, chicks join crèches, which may number over 100,000 individuals.  These crèches are supervised by a few adult birds who will guide them to freshwater, a trek (on foot) that may reach over 30 kilometers.  Once they are old enough to fly, they will follow adults to the feeding grounds.  
• In rough water, they have been reported to congregate and form dense feeding flocks, which encircle a small body of water and help to calm it, facilitating feeding for birds at the center
• Several predators, including canids and felids, hyenas, honey badgers, baboons, marabou stork, and African fish eagle.  Chicks and eggs may be also preyed up by vultures
• Chicks may face additional mortality from the development of balls or rings of crystallized soda around their ankles, which may become heavy enough to weigh them down and drown them
• Still the most abundant of the world’s flamingo species with an estimated population of 2.2-3.3 million birds, of which approximately 650,000 are in the Asian population and the majority in the Rift Valley.  However, the population can be difficult to monitor due to the large-scale movements of the birds, capable of traveling over 450 kilometers in a single day.  Some migration has been observed between Africa and Asia
• Breeding sites are threatened by development, such as soda-ash mining (especially at Lake Natron, the most important breeding site) and proposed hydroelectric development.   These sites may be contaminated by heavy-metal poisoning, killing birds.  Some breeding sites have been lost
• Introduction of invasive brine shrimp can decrease the availability of algae the flamingos feed on
• Other threats include water pollution and collision with electrical lines
• Earliest records in North American zoos are from the late 1950s, the first successful captive reproduction did not occur until 1989 at SeaWorld San Diego
• Minimum flock size recommended for zoo populations is 20 birds; sometimes housed mixed with other flamingo species to form larger flocks for better breeding success