Redirected from Phoenicopteriformes
The larger species breed and feed in saline or brackish habitats. Nests are made of compacted mud and are in the form of a mound with a concave top. They filter-feed on shellfish and algae. Their oddly-shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume, and are uniquely used upside-down.
carotenoids obtained from their food supply.
Flamingos produce a “milk” like pigeon milk (see Columbidae). It contains more fat and less protein than the latter does, and it is produced in glands lining the whole of the upper digestive tract, not just the crop. Young flamingos feed on this milk for about two months until their bills are developed enough to filter feed. The milk also contains red and white blood cells.
Lesser Flamingo[?] (Phoenicopterus minor), is found only in southern Africa, but is the most numerous species.
Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis), is the third and most widespread South American flamingo. It is a large species closely related to Greater and Caribbean.
Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), was until recently considered a subspecies of "Greater Flamingo". It breeds in the Caribbean and once inhabited the state of Florida, but is now extinct there as a wild species.
The flamingos are the only birds in the order Phoenicopteriformes and the family Phoenicopteridae. See also Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy.