LESSER FLAMINGO
Phoenicopterus minor

uNondwebu (Zulu) Kleinflamink (Afrikaans)

HABITAT
They occur on large brackish and saline coastal and inland waters. They are often seen in the company of Greater Flamingoes.

TYPE
Smaller and much pinker than the Greater Flamingo, the bill is dark red and bent in the middle to aid filter feeding. The eyes are red , orange or yellow and the legs and feet are bright red. When flying the wing feathers are black and red. These are highly gregarious birds.

FOOD
Lesser Flamingoes forage in calm water, walking or swimming with head swinging from side to side filtering microscopic blue green algae and diatoms from the surface of the water with the specially modified bill upside down. The air filled lower mandible acts as a float in this position. They rarely feed on the bottom and commonly forage at night.

BREEDING
Lesser Flamingoes do not breed in KwaZulu-Natal. Where they do breed they nest in dense colonies building low mud cones with hollow tops on the mud banks of saline lakes. They normally lay a single egg which is pale blue with a chalky white coating.

STATUS This is a locally abundant, highly nomadic species which is widely distributed in Africa and India.