Phoenicopterus jamesi James’s Flamingo

IUCN Red List - Near Threatened

The James’s Flamingo breeds on the high Andean Plateau of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. This is a small species of flamingo, approximately 3ft in height, with pale pink plumage and deep pink neck, back and primary feathers. Long pink plumes hang down its back during the breeding season. The James’s Flamingo has deep red legs and a yellow beak with a black tip. During the winter some birds move to lower elevations as the temperature drops to -22F, and they huddle by hot springs. The James’s Flamingo was thought to be extinct in 1924, until a small population was located by a search expedition in the remote high Andes of Bolivia in 1956. The small group was living and breeding with Chilean and Andean Flamingos at a salt lake at 14,035ft up in the mountains. These were the first nests of the James’s Flamingo that had ever been recorded. The following year far greater numbers of James’s Flamingos bred at the same location; some 5,000 to 7,000 pairs were present. By the 1980s the numbers had increased to 26,000 pairs. Recent estimates put the current population at about 63,000. The majority of James’s Flamingos breed at this single location. The greatest threat to the species is habitat loss.