The Greater Flamingo is the most wide spread flamingo species, found in parts of Africa, Asia and southern Europe. Some of these populations are migratory and others may make short distance movements in response to water levels and food supplies. The Greater Flamingo is the largest of the flamingos and is most closely related to the American (or Caribbean) Flamingo with which it has previously been considered conspecific.
Greater Flamingos breed in colonies of 20,000 pairs and sometimes as many as 200,000 pairs. Even outside the breeding season the birds may congregate in large numbers at sources of food and will roost in large flocks nightly.
The Greater Flamingo breeds and roosts on sand banks and mudflats and eats crustaceans, mollusks, small fish, algae, and marsh grasses.
Threats to this species are disturbance at the breeding colony due to tourism, air traffic and encroaching human populations. Lead contamination at a breeding site in Cyprus greatly reduced breeding success, but efforts to remove the contamination have been successful. Erosion of breeding sites in France and Spain has been successfully prevented by conservation measures. Other threats include pollution of water by nearly industries, collisions with utility lines and market hunting in parts of the species range.
To learn more about this species see: The Greater Flamingo by Alan Johnson and Frank Ceźilly