flamingos
Scientific classification :
Class: Birds
Order: Ciconiiformes ( includes also herons, ibises and storks)
Family : Phoenicopteridae (contains the 6 flamingo species and subspecies)
Genus and species: Phoenicopterus ruber ruber
Common Name: Caribbean Flamingo
The Flamingo as keystone species:
Flamingos are very visible indicators of the health of the Yucatan Peninsula coastal wetlands.
If they start disappearing we know things are seriously wrong.
However, if we protect the essential flamingo habitat of large wetland extends, we automatically protect the whole ecosystem with all its plants, birds, reptiles, butterflies, fish and anything else that lives here, some having no other home in the world.
Yucatan Peninsula is also the winter home of many migratory birds. By protecting flamingo´s home we also assure that the migrants can travel to their summer spots in good health. So we affect areas as far north Canada.
Flamingo meal time .
Flamingo eat small organisms like aquatic seeds, brine shrimp, red fly larvae and even small moluscs. Their brilliantly pink plumage is a result of the carotenoid pigments of most of their food . Notice how their heads are in the water when they eat. They pump the water with their large tongues and it what gets caught in their bristles. This rater a slow process , so they have to spend half their time eating, so let us not disturb them , please. Fascinating fact:
You'll never see a pink flamingo chick; babies are downy white when they hatch. They feed on crab and shrimp larvae as they grow and the accumulated carotene from the crustaceans give their plumage its characteristic pink-orange color which intensifies as they mature.
Why they're here:
The long shallow estuary where salty Gulf waters mix with fresh water from several cenotes (underground springs) is sheltered from the open sea by a narrow strip of land making it an ideal breeding ground. Although nonbreeding flamingos stay year round you'll see the greatest numbers from April through July.
The treaht of habitat loss.
A century ago the wetlands along the Yucatan Peninsula were connected in a continuos flow , mayans paddled their canoes along the entire coast without leaving the estuarys. But new ports, houses and bridges have change the flow and salinity of the wetlands. This affects the availability of feeding sites for flamingos and other species.
Who shares the habitat ?
MIGRATORY BIRDS : watch out for the majestic American White Pelican, Belted King fishers, Ospreys, oyster catchers, Black skimmers, sharing the estuaryies with flamingos when nort america gets too cold for them in winter, while the tiny warblers, vireos, oriols, swallows, sandpipers, plovers rest in nearby mangrove trees after ardous gulf crossing.
ENDEMIC BIRDS: Are those that are only found in one region and nowehere else in the world. On the Yucatan Peninsula coast include the Yucatan wren and the black cat bird. They live along the coastal dunes surrounding the flooded pools and salt flats that the flamingos visit certain seasons when water in the estuarys is deep for them.
FLAMINGO MIGRATION: For many breeding flamingos there is a general annual pattern of migration: In March and April they move to the breeding site in the Ria Lagartos Biosphere reserve, wich they leave againg between September –october
As North America's only mainland breeding and feeding areas these sites were given biosphere status the highest level of protection in Mexico in 1979.
The refuges are easy day trips from nearby cities but staying overnight nearby allows you to see the flamingos early in the morning or in the evening around sunset, the best time to catch them in flight.
Whether you're a dedicated bird-watcher or just a wide-eyed tourist there are few more spectacular sights than great clouds of pink flamingos taking flight over turquoise waters.