The Andean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus) is a bird species in the flamingo family restricted to the high Andes in southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. It is closely related to the smaller James's Flamingo, and the two are placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus.

Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.

Andean Flamingos, like all flamingos, feed by filtering small items from water with their specialised bills. They have a deep, narrow lower mandible, which allows them to eat small foods such as diatoms, in contrast to the wider bill of larger species, which take bigger prey items.

Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The Andean Flamingo is the only species of flamingo that has yellow legs and feet. Its bill is yellowish as in James's Flamingo, but with a much more extensive black tip.

The Andean Flamingo is at risk of extinction because of hunting, its long breeding cycle, and the low number of breeding sites around the world.

Gallery

File:Andean Flamingos in the Salar de Pedernales.jpg|A group of Andean Flamingos in the Salar de Pedernales in the Atacama Region of Chile.

References

• Database entry includes justification for why this species is of Vulnerable.

External links

• Flamingo Resource Centre - a collection of resources and information related to flamingos
• BirdLife Species Factsheet.
• ARKive - images and movies of the Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus)
• Why do flamingos stand on one leg?