Don't avoid the Andeans!
A few weeks back I talked about the wonderful world of the lesser flamingo, this time it is the awesome adventures of the Andeans. This flock is putting on a great display at the moment with lots of exciting courtship behaviour for visitors to enjoy. This time of year sees all of the flamingos thinking about romance, so it is worthwhile spending a little longer watching what the birds might get up to.
The largest birds in the group are the ones that take charge and then all of them, including Mr James (watch out for him strutting his stuff even though he is a different species) will get as excited as these big birds and so the dance continues.
Want to pick up when this courtship display is going to happen?
There are a few tell-tale signs to look out for. Namely, the birds appearing restless and "milling around" together in a rather random, irregular fashion. This random set of movements will turn into the actual courtship dancing when more and more birds start joining in.
And then things get more heated... So the other thing to keep an eye out for are birds bumping into each other, birds following each other's movements and birds squabbling and shouting more than normal. You can see what I mean in the photo below.
For a complete "crash course" in Andean flamingo spotting, you can check out the video that I was able to capture at the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHabTYkVtM
