Beautiful Flamingo

I insist readers to read message of the day prior to reading details on Flamingo

Message of the Day - SAVE WATER, WATER WILL SAVE US

Time is knocking doors to remind us the importance of saving nature. Water lands will always remain in favorite list of industrialist but always we cannot held them responsible, Each and every citizen is equally responsible to keep our water land clean and pollution free to ensure we get clean water and natural habitat is also well maintained.

We have been polluting our holy rivers (Ganga Yamuna Narmada Kaveri etc) it is high time that we change out mindset, we need to realize that polluted water from river will not only kill nature/birds but will kill human beings as well on account of polluted water.

Join hands and take as oath that we will not pollute rivers and we will not waste water

Here you go with Flamingo,

Hello friends, let me thank each one of you for reading the blog.

Today the blog is on information on lovely bird “Flamingo” one of my favorite. In fact my first photo tour started with Flamingo from Bhigwan and I fell in love with this bird. Flamingos are my guest, they visit my home (Seawoods) in summer (April to June), Flamingos visit in flocks which treat to watch and capture, this also gives opportunity to enhance photography skills. Instead of writing more on my feeling let me introduce Flamingo to you.

Sandeep Lahiri, Padmini Desai, hope you remember Bhigwan trip

Introduction to the world of Flamingo?

Flamingo is a wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, the only bird family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. Six extant flamingo species are recognized by most sources, and were formerly placed in one genus – Phoenicopterus.

There are six types of flamingo namely Greater flamingo, Lesser flamingo, Chilean flamingo, James's flamingo, Andean flamingo and American flamingo.

Famous locations in India: November to June (approximately 2hrs before or after high tide)

Sewree Mumbai, Seawoods New Mumbai, Thane Creak, Bhigwan, Pune Jamnagar (Breeding Ground in Gujarat. Ran of Kutch

Behavioral details:

Grater Flamingo: 120-145 cm Flies with neck outstretched and legs protruding well beyond tail. Juvenile dirty grey-brown, legs and bill grey, latter tipped darker. Feeding flocks emit a constant, low, goose-like growling

Habitat: Salt lakes, sea bays, less often on freshwater lakes and ponds.

Sound: In flight utters a honking kla-ha.

Lesser Flamingo: 80–90cm FIELD NOTES: Flies with neck outstretched and legs protruding well beyond tail. Juvenile dirty grey-brown with black bill, Feeding flocks give a constant low murmuring.

Habitat: Saltpans and coastal lagoons

Sound: In flight utters a high pitched kwirrk

Lifecycle

Flamingos are very social birds; they live in colonies whose population can number in the thousands. These large colonies are believed to serve three purposes for the flamingos avoiding predators, maximizing food intake, and using scarce suitable nesting sites more efficiently. Before breeding, flamingo colonies split into breeding groups of about 15 to 50 birds. Both males and females in these groups perform synchronized ritual displays.

A treat to watch, the members of a group stand together and display to each other by stretching their necks upwards, then uttering calls while head-flagging, and then flapping their wings

Unique fact to know:

Recent molecular studies have suggested a relation with grebes, while morphological evidence also strongly supports a relationship between flamingos and grebes. They hold at least 11 morphological traits in common, which are not found in other birds. Many of these characteristics have been previously identified on flamingos, but not on grebes.