The Jame's Flamingo - Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
by Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Title
The Jame's Flamingo - Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
Artist
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
I just returned from a trip to Bolivia. There are several beautiful lagoons on the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) with amazing colors in the water and 3 different kind of flamingoes. The James's flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi), also known as the puna flamingo, is a species of flamingo that populates the high altitudes of Andean plateaus of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.The James's flamingo was thought to have been extinct until a remote population was discovered in 1956.Newly hatched flamingos are gray or white. They gain color after 2 or 3 years of age. The active component that gives the feathers the pink color is the proteins alpha and beta-carotene (similar to carotene in carrots). A diet rich in carotene allows them to produce pigmented feathers. An adult has 12 main feathers designed for flight on each wing. The body is covered in contour feathers, which protect the bird and also help with waterproofing from a secretion of oil at the base of the feather. When roosting they face the wind so that if it rains the rain does not get up and under the feathers. Plumage is pale pink, with bright carmine streaks around the neck and on the back. When perched a small amount of black can be seen in the wings, these are the flight feathers mentioned above. There are typically 12 to 16 tail feathers. James's flamingos molt their wing and body feathers according to their breeding schedule and the color of the new feathers depends on the quality of the diet that they have obtained. There is no evidence of color differentiation between the males and females.
FEATURED 12/2/15 in "Wildlife One A Day"
FEATURED 12/3/15 in "FAA Portraits - Birds"
FEATURED 12/4/15 in "Animals and Birds in the Wild"
FEATURED 12/7/15 in "Images That Excite You"
FEATURED 1/25/16 in "New FAA Uploads"
FEATURED 5/2/21 in "Animal Photographs"
FEATURED 5/2/21 in "Beautiful Birds"
FEATURED 5/7/21 in "Your Very Best Photography"
Uploaded
December 2nd, 2015
Embed
Share
