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| Greater Flamingo, Phoenicoterus ruber,
Carribean
The Greater Flamingo has an air of frivolous fantasy, but infact, it is perfectly adapted for staning in shallow water while it filter feeds with the strangely shaped bill. The flamingo holds it's bill so that it lies horizontal beneath the water, the upper half below the lower. Water flows into the bill and by movements of the large fleshy tongue, is pushed through hair like lamellae which sieve out food particles before the water is expelled again at the side of the bill. They feed on molluscs, crustaceans, insects, fish and minute aquatic plants. |
