Comparing Two Captive Birds

Biology:

GREATER FLAMINGO, Phoenicopterus ruber roseus Coloration: The palest of the flamingos, the head, neck and body are white or pink; wing-coverts are red; primaries and secondaries are black. Legs are pink; bills are deep pink with black tip; and eyes are yellow. Description: Similar in proportions to P.r. ruber. The largest individuals are slightly larger than P.r. ruber, but on average there is little difference in size between the two races.

Voice

Flamingos, particularly Phoenicopterus species, have loud, honking, goose-like voices and are extremely vocal.

Longevity

Flamingos appear to be among the longest-lived birds. Many captive birds are of unknown age but Studer-Thiersch (1998) records a female greater flamingo as

This occurs while stationary, walking or running. Rooth calls this ‘running’ and other authors ‘pecking’. Grubbing: birds are floating in water, with the beak in substrate -- birds can reach the bottom at a depth equal to the length of their neck, which in P. ruber, is about 30 cm deeper than the length of their legs.

Skimming: the point of the bill skims through the upper layer of water as the bird walks or swims.

Stamping 1: marking time -- the heel joint is continually extended and retracted, alternating both legs; the head, inverted, is moved back and forth a short distance above the bottom. This can occur while the bird is stationary or moving slowly backwards. Food items from the substrate are filtered or pecked. Stamping 2: circling around the bill -- the inverted bill is held at a center point, near the substrate, while the bird’s feet stamp in a circle around it. A circle takes about a minute, and the bird's head is lifted and lowered several times. The action of the feet deposits a small mound at the center of the circle, containing mollusks, gastropods, and other invertebrates on a bed of sand. Lighter organic debris collects in the groove around the mound but is apparently not

Because flamingos can use different feeding methods and can filter selectively, and because some food items (algae, slime) are processed faster than others (seeds, mollusks), in most cases, the relative proportions of items consumed are not known. Flamingos of the same species, in nearby bodies of water, can be consuming very different diets (Jenkin, 1957; Hurlbert, 1982; Hurlbert et al., 1986; Vareschi, 1978;Arengo and Baldessari, 1999; Baldassare and Arengo, 2000). Feeding by large flamingo flocks has significant impact on the relative abundance of available food items in a given body of water (Tuite, 2000; Hurlburt et al., 1986). However, because in some areas flamingos feed on ‘monocultures’, we know that diets for individuals of some species can vary from 100% herbivorous (Spirulina) to 100% carnivorous