The Caribbean Flamingo reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Caribbean Flamingo

Caribbean Flamingo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Phoenicopteridae Genus: Phoenicopterus Species: ruber
Binomial name
Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus, 1758

The Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo (120-140cm) closely related to Greater Flamingo and Chilean Flamingo, with which it is sometimes considered conspecific. This article follows the treatment Ibis (2002) 144 707-710.

Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.

Most of the plumage is pink, giving rise to its earlier name of Rosy Flamingo and differentiating adults from the much whiter European species. The wing coverts are red, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. It is the only flamingo which naturally occurs in North America

The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.

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