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Lesser Flamingo
छोटा राजहंस
The smaller, deeper-pink of the two flamingos, gathering in the thousands on salt lakes and tidal creeks.
How to recognise it
Smaller than the greater flamingo and noticeably pinker all over, with a bill that looks almost black at a distance. Feeds head-down in shallow brine, often in a dense moving line.
Where to see it
Jaipur
The salt pans that flamingos feed in have been worked since at least the Mughal period, and the birds and the salt workers share the same water: flocks arrive after the first heavy rain and leave as the brine thickens. On Sambhar Salt Lake the lesser flamingo is the single most abundant bird: a long-term survey counted more than 20,000 in September 1995 and about 15,000 in January 2009. Sambhar is one of its largest strongholds on the subcontinent.
Sambhar Salt Lake (in season) · Chandlai Lake
Mumbai
Thane Creek was declared Mumbai's first Ramsar site in August 2022. A Bombay Natural History Society count that year recorded more than 130,000 flamingos across the creek, the great majority of them lesser flamingos, which breed in the Rann of Kutch.
Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary