Day 218 - Fabulous Flamingos

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)

Hi all today's Day 218 and when I was looking through for a post that I haven't done yet, I found one that is quite a well known bird and I am surprised I haven't done it yet. It's not native, so you're not likely to see it down the park or in the woods but I felt like going a colourful exotic bird after yesterdays glorious iridescent beetle.  I saw it at Washington Wetland Centre as these are a foreign bird and I have never left England or Scotland. They are incredible birds to watch and it's a shame I didn't get to see their chicks. So, from the title and the pictures, you'll know that today's post is about Flamingos.

So, here are the facts:

• There are 5 different types of Flamingo

  

  An exotic looking group.

  of which none of them occur in Britain. The closest (which is the one I saw) is the Greater Flamingo.

• I said above that they are the closest to Britain but I didn't explain where. Well they are resident around the coast of Africa and they Winter along the South-West coast of Asia.

• Their Latin name (Phoenicopterus ruber) means Red Flamingo as Phoenicopterus means flamingo. The red part is because of their red under-wing.

What's that?

• The oldest ever Flamingo was 83 years old! He died in Adelaide Zoo, Australia in January 2014.

• Moving swiftly on from death to life, the first captive Flamingo hatched at Zoo Basel, Switzerland in 1958 where another 389 have grown up. 

• Flamingos were considered by the Ancient Egyptians to be the living representation of the Sun God Ra. 

• Another weird fact is that in Ancient Rome their tongues were considered to be a delicacy.

• They have a length of 135cm and a wingspan of a huge 1 and a half metres! But their weight is incredible. Females are a huge 2.7kg while Males weigh a mind-blowing 3600 grams!

Here are some links to some more information:

BTO Birdfacts - Greater Flamingos

Wikipedia - Greater Flamingos

Birdlife - Greater Flamingos

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.