FLAMINGOS, INCLUDING FOSSIL ONES IN CALIFORNIA

Flamingo birds are very distinctive among living birds because of their pink or pinkish coloration and very long legs. They are social animals that live in large colonies, and they can be highly vocal. A group of flamingos (also spelled flamingoes) is called a flamboyance (en.wikipedia).

Two flamingos at Los Angeles County Zoo (photo by the author). 

BIOLOGY 

Flamingo legs actually bend just like human legs, but a flamingo’s knee is really its ankle. When a flamingo leg bends, it is its ankle that you seen hinging (en.wikipedia).

The reason flamingos are pink is that they obtain the pigment from the food they eat, which consists of microscopic algae and brine shrimp (the latter of which also eat the  microscopic algae). The flamingos, which are technically speaking, filter feeders, readily metabolize the pink pigment in their food and transfer it to their feathers. There is a range in the pink coloration of flamingos, from pink, to pinkish white, to whitish pink. Determination of which species of flamingo is which is usually that not easy to discern, just based just on coloration.

A flamengo eats with its head upside down in the water, with the bill pointed at its feet. It then sweeps its head from side-to-side, using its tongue to pump water in-and-out of its bill. Comb-like plates along the edge of the bill create a filter for water to rush out, while trapping the food inside (en.wikipedia).

Flamingo parents (both of them) feed their chicks crop milk (regurgitated from the adult's crop, an internal organ). 

HABITATS

Some species of flamingos are found typically in shallow freshwater lakes or in salty or brackish waters (e.g., alkaline or “soda” lakes, like the ones mentioned in my previous post concerning lepidolite in Chile). The tough leg skin of flamingos can tolerate these toxic waters. Flamingos can live also in mangrove swamps, tidal flats, and sandy islands in the intertidal zone (seaworld.org).

Flamingos are generally non-migratory birds, cut they can move around locally to adjust to climate change and waters levels in their breeding areas. They can fly long distances; approximately 370 miles in a single night at about 35 mph. They often fly at night so as to avoid predation by eagles (seaworld.org). 

CLASSIFICATION

Flamengos represent a type of wading bird but are not waterfowl. Although flamingos have long legs for wading, they are genetically most similar to the squat, short-legged grebe birds, which are diving birds (see Tuinenf et al., 2001). According to en.wikipedia, their classification is:

Class Aves

Order Phoenicopteriformes

Family Phoenicopteridae

Genera: 8 known genera; 5 are extinct, 3 are extant [at least one DNA study, however, indicates   only two genera---see Frias-Soler et al. (2022)].

Extant (living) Species: 6

Phoenicopterus roseus—parts of Africa, southern Europe, southwest Asia. This is the most widespread flamingo and also the largest flamingo in size.

Phoenicopterus chilensis––temperate southern South America.

Phoenicopterus ruber––Caribbean islands, Caribbean Mexico, southern Florida, Belize, coastal Columbia, northern Brazil, Venezuela, and the Galápagos Islands (which is an isolated population (about 500 individuals with, therefore, low genetic diversity; also they are

smaller in size than other flamingos—see Frias et al., 2014). This species, which is commonly called the “American flamingo,” is the second largest flamingo in size. This species is closely related to P. roseus and P. chilensis, according to Luo et al. (2016).

Phoenicoparrus andinus–––High Andes in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.

Phooenicoparrus jamesi–––High Andes in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.

Phoenicoaias minor–––Africa (Great Rift Valley) to northwest                India. Individuals are the most numerous and also the  largest in size of all flamingos.

The classification of flamingos is in a state of flux because of recent DNA studies.

GEOLOGIC AGE RANGE

The known geologic age range of flamingos is middle Oligocene (in central Europe) to modern day. The massively built Phoeniconotius pyrensis of late Oligocene age is known from southern Australia. It is important to emphasize that bird fossils are all very rare. Also, bird bones are fragile because they are hollow with thin walls. Therefore, bird fossils do not preserve very well.

CALIFORNIA FOSSIL OCCURRENCES

Flamingo remains have been recovered from late Pliocene in the Mojave Desert region in southern California. Their presence suggests shallow-lake environments with a rich microscopic food source (Jefferson, 2006:p. 149 and also fig. 9.8).

Leg bones of a rather small flamingo species of late Pleistocene age have also been recovered from Lake Manix, California. Nearly complete leg bones of Phoenicopterus minutus Howard, 1955 were found (an example is figured below), as well as a fragment of another species of this genus. 

Example of a nearly complete (length 22.2 cm) tibiotarsus (= long bone of the lower leg) of Phoenicopterus minutus Howard, of late Pleistocene age, from Lake Manix, California (from Howard's pl. 50, fig. 4).

References Cited

en.wikipedia

Frias-Soler, R.C. and eight others. 2022. Phylogeny of the order Phoenicopteriformes and population genetics of the Caribeean flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber: Aves). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 196, issue 4, pp. 1485-1504. 

[pdf low cost].

Howard, H. 1955. Fossil birds from Manix Lake, California. Descriptions of late Pleistocene bird remains, including a new species of flamingo. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 264:199–205. [pdf available free).

Jefferson, G.T. 2006. The fossil birds of Anza-Borrego. In Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert. California State Parks, pp. 151-160.

Luo, X., X. Kang, and D.Z. Zhang. 2016. Complete mitochondrial genome of the American flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber (Phoenicopteriformes, Phoenicopteridae. DNA Mapping, Sequencing, and Analysis, v. 27, issue. 5. [pdf expensive].

seaworld.org 

Simthsonian magazine @ nationalzoo.sci.edu, or national.si.edu

Tuinenf, M.V. and three others. 2001. Convergence and divergence in the evolution of aquatic birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, v. 268, issue 1474. [pdf moderate cost].