thumb|Andean flamingo (center) amidst a flock of [[James's flamingo|James's flamingos, in Potosí, Bolivia]]
thumb|Andean flamingo (left) with a [[Chilean flamingo (right), in Santa Fe, Argentina]]
The Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus) is a species of flamingo native to the Andes mountains of South America. Until 2014, it was classified in genus Phoenicopterus. It is closely related to James's flamingo, and the two make up the genus Phoenicoparrus. The Chilean flamingo, Andean flamingo, and James' flamingo are all sympatric, and all live in colonies (including shared nesting areas).
Distribution, habitat, and movements
This Andean flamingo is native to the wetlands of the high Andes mountain range from southern Peru to northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. Andean flamingos are migratory, with the ability to travel up to 700 miles in one day. In the summer, they 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. Reportedly body mass of the Andean flamingo has ranged from , height from and wingspan from .
The flamingo 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. Its bill is pale yellow near the skull, but black for the majority of its length, and curves downward. Its lower mandible is less apparent than those of the genus Phoenicopterus.
Plumages
Juveniles present a uniformly pale gray plumage. It is often duskier on the head and neck. Coverts and scapulars can have darker brown centers. Meanwhile, adults are overall pale pink, with the feathers on the lower neck and chest being much brighter pink; coverts may be similarly bright pink. Head and upper neck may be a brighter pink than the rest of the body, which can appear almost white with only a pale pink wash, but head and upper neck never as bright as the lower neck and breast. Primaries and secondaries black, which when wings are folded, appear as bold black triangle that is not obscured by other feathers.
Fossil record
Fossils attributed to Andean Flamingo have been found at the Salar de Atacama border and roughly date to the Early Formative period, approximately 3,000 to 2,200 BP. These fossils date to a period consistent with the onset of modern climate conditions that the species now inhabits.
Behavior
Feeding
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.
The flamingos feed from the bottom layer of the lake for small particles, mainly diatoms. They have a deep-keeled bill; the upper mandible is narrower than the lower, creating a gape on the dorsal surface of the bill. The bill morphology facilitates feeding of diatoms through 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.
When grouping the Andean flamingos with Chilean flamingos or James's flamingos, Andean flamingos adopt the foraging patterns of the species with which it is grouped.
Mining
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. Studies testing the effects of borax exposure in animals show that excess boron causes skeletal malformations, cardiovascular defects, and degeneration of testes.
Biologists and conservationists have raised concerns about the negative impacts of lithium brine extraction on areas where these birds reproduce and feed. This species, part of the flamingo family alongside the Andean and James's flamingos, has been classified as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.