Greater Flamingo ( Phoenicopterus ruber, family: Scopidae)

greater flamingo kruger national park birds The Greater Flamingo (Latin name Phoenicopterus ruber) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 96 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 605 also a picture of the Greater Flamingo on page 576. The Greater Flamingo belongs to the family of birds classified as Scopidae.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Greater Flamingo is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a resident

In terms of distribution of the Greater Flamingo in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Greater Flamingo : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Greater Flamingo is a very large bird much much bigger than a Pied Crow. The height of the Greater Flamingo is about 165 cms and its weight is about 3500 gms

You will find that the male Greater Flamingo plumage and colours are different to that of the female Greater Flamingo

  • Head is pink.
  • Eye is yellow.
  • Bill is mauve.
  • Throat is pink.
  • Back is pink.
  • Legs are grey.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Greater Flamingo feeds in or around water mainly

Invertebrates

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Greater Flamingo is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Phoenicopterus ruber will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Greater Flamingo is to create the nest on the ground. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 1

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Greater Flamingo are: wetlands and riverine areas

You will normally see the Greater Flamingo in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... uKholwase/uNondwebu

Afrikaans ...Grootflamink

German ... Flamingo

Portuguese ... Flamingo-comum

French ... Flamant rose

Dutch ... Flamingo

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 96

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za