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Greater Flamingo
Phoenicopterus roseus | Flamingo | Flamenco común
The Greater Flamingo is the most conspicuous bird of European saltpans: long-legged, pink-washed and armed with a unique kinked filter bill. A small, partly feral colony breeds just over the Dutch border.
Voice
Goose-like, which surprises everyone: a nasal bleating ka-ha and a low gabbling murmur from feeding flocks that carries far over flat water. Flying parties are as noisy as geese. Audible year-round, loudest around colonies in spring when thousands call together.
Recording: Joost van Bruggen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Identification
Very large, extremely long-legged and long-necked, mostly pale pinkish white with crimson coverts and black flight feathers that only really show in flight. The bill is pink with a sharply cut black tip and a strong downward kink; legs pink. Juveniles are grey-brown with grey bill and legs, taking several years to turn pink.
Confusion species
Lesser Flamingo is smaller, deeper pink, with a dark red bill that looks all black at range. Chilean Flamingo, widely kept in collections, has grey legs with red joints. Dutch and German flocks contain all three, so always check bill pattern and leg colour before claiming anything.
Habitat
Shallow saline and brackish water without vegetation: saltpans, coastal lagoons, estuaries and commercial salinas, where it filters the mud with its head upside down. Breeds on mud cones on islets out of reach of ground predators, and needs stable water levels through the season.
Range and movements
Centred on the Mediterranean: Fuente de Piedra, the Doñana area, the Ebro Delta, the salinas of Santa Pola and the Camargue. In the Netherlands a mixed colony breeds at Zwillbrocker Venn just across the German border, with birds feeding in the Delta and Wadden; elsewhere it is a scarce vagrant.
- Resident
- Breeding (summer)
- Winter
- Passage
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
Where and when to look
In Spain, Fuente de Piedra in April and May, when thousands breed. Arrive early, before heat haze wrecks the view. In the Netherlands, August to October on the Zwarte Meer and in the Delta, when low evening light makes the pink glow and birds gather to moult.
Conservation status
Increased in Europe since the key colonies were strictly protected and salt-working sites were kept in use. It remains vulnerable through dependence on very few breeding sites: one dry year or one serious disturbance can cost a whole season. Lead poisoning and water-level management matter locally.