Animalia Life

Phoenicoparrus jamesi
TAXONOMY
Phoenicoparrus jamesi P.L. Sclater, 1886, Sitani, at foot of Isluga volcano, Tarapacб, Chile.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Lesser Andean flamingo, Puna flamingo; French: Flamant de James; German: Jamesflamingo; Spanish: Parina Chica.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
35–26 in (90–92 cm); c. 4.4 lb (2.0 kg); female approximately 10% smaller than male. Adults are overall whitish, tinged with pink, with a band of carmine streaks across the breast; bright red on the wings. Flight feathers are black. Bill is yellow, with red at the base and a broad black tip. Legs and feet are pink. The juvenile is brownish, streaked darker.
DISTRIBUTION
Found only in the high Andes of the extreme south of western Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina.
HABITAT
Shallow high-altitude saline and alkaline lakes and lagoons.
BEHAVIOR
Gregarious, with group displays involving ritualized movements of head and wings, accompanied by loud calls. In flocks of a few hundred to several thousand.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Sieves diatoms from shallow water and mud.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Lays single egg on mud nest close to or in shallow water, the time of breeding being dictated by rainfall rather than seasons. Nests in dense colonies, up to a few thousands of pairs. Incubation period probably c. 28 days; fledging probably 70–80 days. Both parents incubate and care for young, which gather into groups. Productivity very variable, with complete failures in some years. Age of first breeding probably four or five years.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Has declined in some areas in recent years, through habitat destruction and egg-harvesting. Recent establishment of reserves should benefit the species.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Egg-harvesting.

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