Andean flamingo
| Andean flamingo | ||||||||||
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Andean flamingo ( Phoenicoparrus andinus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Phoenicoparrus andinus | ||||||||||
| ( Philippi , 1854) |
The Andean flamingo ( Phoenicoparrus andinus ) or yellow-footed flamingo is a species of bird from the order of the flamingos and the family of the same name . Its distribution area are high altitudes in the South American Andes. Within the flamingo family, the Andean flamingo is the only species that has yellow feet and legs.
description
The Andean flamingo reaches a height of 102 to 110 cm. The head, neck and wings are pink, the rest of the plumage pale pink to white, the wing tips black. The tail plumage forms a characteristic black triangle, by which the Andean flamingo can be distinguished very well from the two other flamingo species living in South America, the Chilean flamingo and the James flamingo . The beak is light yellow at the base and turns black towards the tip. The legs of the Andean flamingo are yellow. The three forward-facing toes are webbed together. Young birds are distinguished by gray plumage with noticeable stripes on the top of the wings.
Occurrence
The declining population of an estimated 34,000 specimens in 1997 lives in an area of approx. 189,000 km² in the high Andes in southern Peru and especially southwest Bolivia and northeast Chile . In the El Niño years it is also seen in northern Argentina . The Andean flamingo moves nomadically on the local salt lakes between 2,200 m ( Salar de Atacama ) and 4,500 m above sea level. NN (Bolivian high plateau). In the course of the increased mining of lithium due to the increasing electromobility in parts of the Andean flamingo distribution area, the stocks in the regions concerned are acutely threatened.
Way of life
The Andean flamingo forms mixed groups with the Chilean flamingo in the Andes . The couple lays the only egg per breeding season in the summer of the southern hemisphere between December and February. During the incubation, the nest consisting of a mound of earth is constantly repaired. The young bird has a white downy dress and a straight beak. The adult birds feed it with goiter milk, which contains fat, proteins, carbohydrates, red pigments and blood cells. As soon as the young birds leave the nest, they form groups of children that are looked after by the adults in turns. Like all flamingos, the Andean flamingo flies with its neck stretched out. His call is a goose-like trumpeting.
literature
- Christopher M. Perrins : The Great Encyclopedia of Birds. From the English, Orbis-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-572-00810-7 , p. 73.
- Martin R. De LA Pena: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica (Collins Illustrated Checklist). Harpercollins Pub Ltd, ISBN 0-00-220077-5 .
- Martin Walters: The signals of birds - What birds reveal about the environment . Haupt, Bern 2011, ISBN 978-3-258-07682-9 .
Web links
- BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Phoenicoparrus andinus. Accessed August 17, 2009
- Meyers, J. and A. Fraser. 2006. Phoenicoparrus andinus , Animal Diversity Web. Accessed August 17, 2009
- Phoenicoparrus andinus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Verkehrswende: On the hunt for lithium report from December 13, 2018 on the online portal on climate change operated by the non-profit association Klimawissen eV klimareporter.de, accessed on March 24, 2019
- ↑ Lithium: Mining and Extraction - Environmental Risks of Lithium Production Report on the website of the business daily Handelsblatt from October 16, 2019, accessed on March 24, 2019