GREATER FLAMINGO
This magnificent bird visits our island occasionally, and what a welcome site it is. The greater flamingo is easy to recognize as it can attain a height of 1800mm and has a wingspan nearing 1700mm. Most of the plumage is pinkish white, but when in flight, the wings are crimson red with black flight feathers. The bill is pink with a black tip and the long legs are also pink.
The flamingoes migrate from Africa and Asia, to Spain, France and Italy, but they sometimes stop off to feed at the Livadi marshes. They can be seen there between Spring and Autumn. Using their feet to stir up the mud, the flamingoes suck up the disturbed water which is filtered through its bill. Shrimp, crustaceans, seeds and insect larvae are its favoured food, with their pink colouration coming from pigments within the shrimp. Unfortunately, they do not breed here, but if they did, they would lay a single egg on a volcano shaped mound of mud.
