Andean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus)

The Andean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus) is one of the rarest flamingos in the world. It has a pale pink body with brighter upperparts, deep vinaceous-pink lower neck, breast, and wing-coverts. It is the only flamingo species with yellow legs and three-toed feet. The bill of the Andean Flamingo is pale yellow and black. This flamingo is native to the wetlands of the high Andes mountain range from southern Perú to northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. The Andean Flamingo is a migratory bird with the ability to travel up to 700 miles in one day. These flamingos are filter-feeders and their diet ranges over the entire spectrum of available foods, from fish to invertebrates, from vascular plants to microscopic algae.
Andean flamingos feed from the bottom layer of the lake for small particles, mainly diatoms. Andean Flamingos have a deep-keeled bill; the upper jaw is narrower than the lower jaw and this creates a gape on the dorsal surface of the bill. The Andean Flamingo's bill morphology creates a feeding mechanism that aids in their feeding of diatoms called inertial impaction. This mechanism entails that food particles denser than water, such as diatoms, would impact the filtering surface in the bill causing water to flow out of the mouth and leaving diatoms in the flamingo's bill. As mentioned, Andean Flamingos forage in shallow salty waters for resources. Andean flamingos exhibit the most flexible foraging pattern compared to that of the Chilean and James flamingos. A study showed that grouping the Andean Flamingos with Chilean Flamingos or with James's Flamingos, the Andean Flamingo would adopt the foraging patterns of the species it is grouped with. Thus, when grouped with the Chilean Flamingo, it will use a moderate and deep foraging depth strategy more than or the same as expected. If they are grouped with James Flamingo they will adopt the edge and the shallow foraging strategy. However, the overall foraging behavior of Andean Flamingo remains unclear and further studies are needed to determine this process.
In the summer, Andean Flamingos live in salt lakes and migrate to the lower wetlands for the winter. The cause of this migration from summer to winter is possibly due to the extreme aridity of salt-flats during the winter. The path of migration is unknown, but it is thought to occur between the Chilean breeding grounds and the wetlands of central and western Argentina.
The Andean Flamingo is considered a vulnerable species due to unnatural changes in its habitat. The major changes are due to the mining business and human disturbances.
The Andean Flamingo's habitat is constantly changing due to human activity. The primary threat to the flamingo population is mining excavations, which occur at the end of the summer rainy season. The habitat of the Andean Flamingo is rich in boron compounds, specifically borax. Borax is fairly toxic at high dosages to animals such as the Andean Flamingo, but not to humans. Studies testing the effects of borax exposure in animals show that excess boron causes skeletal malformations, cardiovascular defects and degeneration of the testis. Borax is a derivative of boric acid; a study comparing the toxicology of borates determined that salts of boric acid produce comparable effects. A study on the mining environment determined as little as five grams of borax can produce adverse effects in animal populations, but human workers remain unaffected at these concentrations. Therefore, the miners remain unaffected while the animals suffer from developmental and reproductive toxicity.

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