Justification This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Family/Sub-family Phoenicopteridae

Species name author Pallas, 1811

Taxonomic source(s) AERC TAC (2003), Knox et al. (2002)

Taxonomic note Phoenicopterus ruber (Sibley and Monroe, 1990, 1993) has been split into P. roseus and P. ruber following Knox et al. (2002), contra SACC (2005).

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

550,000 - 680,000

unset

-

No

Range & population This species is regularly seen from West Africa eastward throughout the Mediterranean to South West and South Asia, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The Palearctic population (including West Africa, Iran and Kazakhstan) is estimated to number between 205,000 and 320,000, the South West and South Asian populations combined at 240,000, and the sub-Saharan African populations between 100,000 and 120,000¹³. The Palearctic population appears to be increasing, while the Asian and sub-Saharan African populations appear to be stable¹³.

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: Behaviour Juveniles, and to a lesser extent adults⁹, are prone to irregular nomadic or partially migratory movements throughout the species's range in response to water-level changes^{4, 6} or food availability³. Members of the Palearctic population are partially migratory^{1, 6} and regularly travel to warmer regions in the winter via favoured stop-over sites¹ (non-breeders may be present all year round in the wintering areas)^{6, 16}. In the Mediterranean and West Africa, breeding colonies appear to be linked by a significant frequency of juvenile and adult dispersal and are thus considered to belong to a single metapopulation¹⁵. Members of the Asian populations move from their breeding sites at inland lakes to coastal wetlands during non-breeding periods¹⁷, and when not breeding the sub-Saharan African population tends to disperse among the alkaline-saline lakes and wetlands of eastern and southern Africa^{18, 19}. The Palearctic population breeds regularly from March to June in large dense single-species colonies of up to 20,000 pairs (occasionally up to 200,000 pairs)¹ and in some regions may undergo a post-breeding flightless moult period where adults gather in flocks on inaccessible waters⁵. The Asian and sub-Saharan populations breed irregularly following the rains, often in large mixed colonies with Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor^{17, 20, 21}. The species is gregarious and commonly occurs in flocks of 100 or more outside of the breeding season³, with thousands often flocking together³ in areas rich in food or at freshwater inlets of saline or alkaline lakes to drink and bathe⁶. In sub-Saharan Africa, the species may also join large flocks of non-breeding Lesser Flamingo. The species is a bottom feeder⁶ and forages both by day and night³, feeding by filtering particles through tiny platelets in the bill⁶. It also often roosts at night in large flocks³. Habitat The species inhabits shallow (c.1 m deep over a large area)⁶ eutrophic waterbodies⁴ such as saline lagoons, saltpans and large saline or alkaline lakes^{1, 3} up to pH 11⁶. It will also frequent sewage treatment pans, inland dams⁴, estuaries³ and coastal waters¹⁴, seldom alighting on freshwater but commonly bathing and drinking from freshwater inlets entering alkaline or saline lakes³. It nests and roosts on sandbanks^{1, 3}, mudflats¹, islands³ or boggy, open shores⁵. Diet Its diet consists of crustaceans¹ (especially brine shrimp Artemia salina)³, molluscs, annelid worms, larval aquatic insects, small fish, adult terrestrial insects (e.g. water beetles, ants), the seeds or stolons of marsh grasses, algae, diatoms and decaying leaves¹. It may also ingest mud in order to extract organic matter (e.g. bacteria)¹. Breeding site The species nests in large dense colonies on mudflats or islands of large waterbodies, occasionally also on bare rocky islands¹, with a distance between neighbouring nests of between 20 and 50 cm⁶. The nest is usually an inverted cone of hardened mud⁵ with a shallow depression on the top (alternatively it may be a small pile of stones and debris when mud is not available)¹. Management information The removal of sand polluted with lead shot from a salt-lake in Cyprus was successful in significantly reducing the numbers of deaths due to lead poisoning¹⁰. At two colonies (one in France and one in Spain) management techniques to counteract erosion and the lack of suitable nesting islands were successfully applied in order to encourage breeding by the species¹¹.

Threats The species suffers from low reproductive success if exposed to disturbance at breeding colonies^{2, 7} (e.g. from tourists, low-flying aircraft² and especially all-terrain vehicles⁷), or if water-levels surrounding nest-sites lower (resulting in increased access to and therefore predation from ground predators such as foxes and feral dogs)¹⁰. The lowering of water levels in lakes can also lead to hyper-salinity which may affect food resources⁸. Other threats to the species's habitat include effluents from soda-ash mining^{4, 8}, pollution from sewage and heavy metal effluents from industries⁸. The species also suffers mortality from lead poisoning (lead shot ingestion)^{9, 10}, collisions with fences and powerlines⁴, and from diseases such as tuberculosis, septicemia⁸ and avian botulism¹². Utilisation In Egypt large numbers of adults are shot or captured to be sold in markets¹, and egg collecting from colonies occurs in some areas (this may become a threat)².

References 1. del Hoyo et al. (1992). 2. Ogilvie and Ogilvie (1986). 3. Brown et al. (1982). 4. Hockey et al. (2005). 5. Flint et al. (1984). 6. Snow and Perrins (1998). 7. Yosef (2000). 8. Nasirwa (2000). 9. Mateo et al. (1998). 10. Miltiadou (2005). 11. Martos and Johnson (1996). 12. van Heerden (1974). 13. Delany and Scott (2006). 14. Diawara et al. (2007). 15. Balkiz (2006). 16. Amat et al. (2005). 17. Balachandran (2007). 18. Baker et al. (2006). 19. McCulloch et al. (2003). 20. McCulloch and Irvine (2004). 21. Brown and Root (1971).

Further web sources of information

Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004)

Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Jonathan Ekstrom (BirdLife International), Lucy Malpas (BirdLife International)

Contributors Brooks Childress

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Phoenicopterus roseus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums