Habitat

Where do Caribbean Flamingos Like To Live?!?

The Caribbean Flamingo is very picky when it comes to its habitat. It prefers to dwell near shallow saline lagoons, in order to feed and breed successfully. In extremely rare cases do Caribbean Flamingos feed in fresh water. These birds have been known to feed at times of low salt concentration only when a salt lake meets fresh water. Other habitats include: muddy flats, sandy islands, coastlines, mangrove swamps, or soda lakes that are very salty! Many halophiles, bacteria that are "salt loving," live there as well because they are specially adapted to tolerate the high salt concentration like the flamingo. Disturbances in the flamingo's habitat, such as severe weather may affect food availability or the quality of breeding sites. This causes flamingos to move around during the year in order to find new resources that they can use. Introduction of fish in some lakes may also affect the distribution of the Caribbean flamingo because they both feed on invertebrates, and the flamingos leave because of the competition.

The Flamingo's ecological niche!

The flamingo is a filter feeder and is important in regulating the amount of algae, small crustaceans, and other microorganisms in the environment.

Photo at the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii

 

To learn about where in the world Caribbean Flamingos live, take a spin threw the Geography section.