Better ten flamingos in the sky by Pieter JF Smit

About "Better ten flamingos in the sky"

by Pieter JF Smit

About the artwork

The red flamingo, also called large flamingo, Caribbean flamingo or Cuban flamingo, is a species of flamingo found from the southeastern states of the United States to the northern coast of South America and the Galapagos Islands. The Everglades National Park is also home to large groups of red flamingos. The habitats of red flamingos consist of large mudflats where they can easily use loose mud to build mounds used for nests. They are mostly large water surfaces such as coastal areas, sea inlets, rivers, river deltas and open lakes rich in small crustaceans and algae. They prefer river deltas with high salt content. This picture was taken in Bonaire. In Bonaire, they are common in the salt pans. Red flamingos are large birds with a wingspan of 1.4 to 1.65 metres. Standing upright, they are 1.2 to 1.45 metres tall. They weigh 2.1 to 4.1 kg and are best known for their bright, pink colour. They have black primaries that can only be seen while flying and a long, graceful neck and legs that, relative to body length, are the longest of any bird. The irises are pale in colour, as is the beak which has a black tip. The shape of the beak is not found in any other bird species and has a unique adaptation to filter food from water. The lower bill is larger than the upper bill, which is not attached to the skull, and has horn-like lamellae along the edges. A flamingo's tongue is very muscular and serves to force water back out of the beak while foraging. In the young, the beak begins to develop after two weeks.