Greater Flamingo
Phoenicopterus roseus
Noticeably taller Greater Flamingos flock with Lesser Flamingos at Lake Bogoria, Rift Valley, Kenya. October 2010.
Two kinds of flamingos occur on Kenya's soda lakes and this one is the taller of the two. When feeding they hold their peculiar bill inverted below the water surface while pumping water with suspended food through hair-like, filtering structures. The principal food are filamentous algae, especially blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and small crustaceans like brine shrimp. Some authorities lump the Old World Greater Flamingo with the American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber).
Phoenocopteridae -- Flamingo Family
Books:
- Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania by Zimmerman et al.
- Birds of East Africa by Stevenson and Fanshawe