Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 147, March 2017, pp. 1-16. | Page 6
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British Ornithologists' Union) as incorrect and based on insufficient evidence
(Wikipedia; Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2017).
Like all flamingos, this species lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound.
Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the
primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted
black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking. Subadult flamingos are whitish-grey and only attain the pink coloration several
years into their adult life. The coloration comes from the carotenoid pigments in
the organisms that live in their feeding grounds (Wikipedia; Khalaf-von Jaffa,
February 2017).
The bird resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using
its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, and then sucks water through its bill and filters
out small shrimp, seeds, blue-green algae, microscopic organisms and mollusks.
The greater flamingo feeds with its head down and its upper jaw is movable and
not rigidly fixed to its skull (Wikipedia; Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2017).
A black flamingo is seen in a salt lak