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The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a wading bird of the Ciconiiformes order, belonging to the Flamingo family.
It can grow to over 1.5 meters long and its beautiful plumage is mostly white, with light pink hues on the back and tail; the wing coverts and axillary feathers are red; the flight feathers are black.
Its legs are very long, bare, and pink, as are the toes.
The neck is long and very flexible; the head is quite large.
Its distinctive feature is its robust beak,
bent at a downward angle. The beak is black on the anterior half, while the base is pink and covered with delicate skin. The eye is small, dull, and yellowish in color.
The flamingo lives in flocks in lagoons, where it feeds primarily on mollusks, worms, and crustaceans, which it searches for in the silt on the bottom, rummaging through it with its large beak. It also feeds on fish and algae.
The greater flamingo is widespread in the Mediterranean regions, central and northern Africa, and southern Asia.
An important wintering area for the greater flamingo is Iran.
Some of its subspecies live in South and Central America.
Since the early 1990s, it has also begun nesting in Italy. Significant colonies are found in Sardinia, Sicily, Puglia, Tuscany and in the Po Delta.
As I previously noted, the Greater flamingo belongs to the order Ciconiiformes, as does the sacred Ibis.
Below are two photos showing, on the left, a pair of Sacred Ibises and, on the right, a pair of Greater Flamingos; both pairs are engaged in “communicating and interacting” through the use of their beaks.
Author’s note
Photos by Maurizio Romio. Copyright © Maurizio Romio 2025.
I used for the photographs an OM SYSTEM OM-1 MARK II camera body and an OM System M.Zuiko ED 150–600mm f/5.0-6.3 IS Sync telephoto lens.
Shooting locations: Sacca degli Scardovari – Porto Tolle – Po Delta – Italy.
Date: August-September 2025