Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor)

Two species of flamingos occur here. The Greater Flamingo is larger has a pale (not red) eye, and shows a bicolored bill. Flamingos are filter feeders. They use fine lamellae along the inside of their bill to filter small shrimp while pumping water through their bill using their thick fleshy tongue. Lessers feed almost exclusively on microscopic blue-green algae and diatoms which they take from the surface of the water. They do not usually dabble in the mud for invertebrates the way the Greater Flamingos do. Thus there is little competition for food resources between the two species in areas where they occur together. Formerly included in the genus "Phoenicopterus."