Outside of the breeding season, feeding, preening and loafing (resting) account for most of a flamingo’s
daily activities. Feeding flocks spread themselves out widely to avoid competition and reduce squabbling.
The Caribbean flamingo is a generalist feeder, and consumes plant and animal material by using its tongue
to pump water inside its beak and filter out suspended food particles.
Carotenoid pigments that flamingos ingest are metabolised within the bird to produce their eye-catching pink
colour. Carotenoids also change the colour of the flamingo’s skin, mucous membranes, egg yolk, crop milk
and fat. Caribbean flamingos were once considered a subspecies of the paler greater flamingo.
Although similar in size, differences between these two birds mean they are now classified separately.June 2017 53