Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE STORK-LIKE BIRDS

THE FLAMINGOS (Suborder Phcenicopteri)

Flamenco Description

Although long legs and necks are a prominent feature among the Herons, Storks, Ibises, etc., none of them makes such peculiar use of these members as the Flamingos are reputed to do. The long neck of the Flamingo is not produced by an excessive multiplication of vertebrae, for there are only eighteen, but by the great lengthening of the individual bones.

The form of the bill is unique among birds. Stejneger well describes the lower mandible as”a deep and broad box, into which the upper one, which is much lower and narrower, fits like a lid; the sides are provided with quite Duck-like lamellae; and, to complete the odd-ness of the structure, both mandibles at the middle are bent abruptly downwards.”In feeding the Flamingos reverse the usual position of the head until the bent portion of the bill is parallel with the surface of the ground, thus working backward instead of forward as in other birds. They frequent shallow, preferably salt-water, marshes and lagoons, and their food consists of small mollusks, crustaceans, and vegetable matter, which they secure by exploring around in the soft mud much after the manner of Ducks, the water running out between the ridges of the bill. Hudson, who saw them in Patagonia, says that while feeding”the noise made by their beaks was continuous and resembled the sound produced by wringing out a wet cloth.

They feed a great deal by day, but more, I think, by night.”Scott, who observed a large flock, estimated at one thousand birds, near Cape Sable, Florida, found them feeding by day; they were there stretched out in a long line, sometimes in a single but as often in double rank.

This line varied in length at different times, sometimes being fully a mile long. He also notes that”all the time the birds were feeding there were three small parties, varying from two to five individuals, that were apparently doing a sort of picket duty.”About every half hour the pickets were relieved by others, so that there were always a dozen or so on guard, and he found it impossible to approach within shooting distance. The nesting site of this flock Scott was not able to discover, but it was presumably not far from where he found them.

 

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