Species profile
About the greater flamingo
The greater flamingo is the larger of the two Rift Valley flamingos: paler pink, standing well over a metre tall, with a pink bill that has a sharply defined black tip. It wades deeper than the lesser flamingo and sweeps its bill upside-down through the water.
The two species share the same lakes without competing because they eat different things — greater flamingos filter brine shrimp, insect larvae and molluscs from the sediment, while lesser flamingos strain microscopic algae from the surface. Lake Manyara, the Momella Lakes in Arusha National Park and Lake Magadi in the Ngorongoro Crater all hold them.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Feeds by walking slowly with the bill inverted below the surface, stirring sediment with its feet. Flies in long lines and V formations between lakes.
Social life
Highly gregarious, feeding and nesting in large colonies with synchronised group courtship displays of head-flagging and wing-saluting.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A downturned bill that filters food from sediment, and pink colouring taken entirely from carotenoids in its diet.
