We love flamingos
The flamingo is known for its bright pink or reddish color. They get their color from food in their diet, which includes a lot of bacteria and beta carotene found in algae, plankton and shrimp. The Lesser Flamingo feeds on Spirulina, a very nutritious algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes.
The brighter the pink of the flamingo, the healthier the bird is, although the actual color varies in each of the species of flamingo. When flamingo babies hatch, they stay a white or grayish color for a couple years before they develop their mature red, orange or pink color.
Flamingos only breed in very large groups. In South Africa the Lesser Flamingo only breed at Kamfers Dam in Kimberly where a generous mining company, Ekapa, built an S-shaped artificial island in the middle of the dam. The flamingos loved this man-made breeding haven and, for the first time, the lesser flamingo had bred in South Africa. Now there is a large permanent breeding population.
Despite being the most numerous species of flamingo, the Lesser Flamingo is classified as near-threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites. The only breeding site in South Africa, situated at Kamfers Dam, is threatened by pollution and human induced threats to the breeding sites.
The Lesser Flamingo is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.