Friends on Steemit:

I leave today some photographs of a fantastic species, the flamingos.

I hope you enjoy them, motivate the images and may be interested in this beautiful population of our world.

Those who pass through the University Avenue in Cumaná, Venezuela, will find, at the height of the popular Cumanagoto neighborhood, a lagoon, a meeting place between the waters of the sea and the mouth of a tributary of the Manzanares River. The tributary is called Bebedero. In Spanish the name comes from the verb drink (beber) and designates the place where beasts, donkeys, horses and cattle drink water. The population that formed around him kept the name, Bebedero; few know that in that space the animals that came down from the mountains drank water in the past. Now this tributary is turned into an unattended pipe.

In the rainy season that water eye becomes a lodging for flocks of flamingos that cross the continent to escape the cold while winter lasts in the southern countries.

Being in the area when flamingo flocks cross the sky is a wonderful possibility. Some stay in that body of water, others go through the state.

Flamingo is a species scientifically located with the name Phoenicopterus. When reviewing fossil evidence, scientists determined that the lineage of flamingos is around 30 million years old and that its first species, now extinct, existed during the Eocene era. The closest relatives of flamingos today are classified in the order Ciconiiformes, where storks are included.

These animals are beings of extraordinary beauty, their feathers are as light as the cotton candy. Its pink color, of different intensities, which can reach red, recalls mythological images. There are even legends that relate it to the Phoenix, for the combination of its colors where the black color of part of its beak and the white markers visible between its feathers.

Flamingos should be aware of their beauty because, according to ornithologists, they spend half of their time cleaning. There is no appreciable difference in the presence between females and males, they are monogamous and jealous parents. The female deposits a single egg (sometimes two) in a conical nest that builds in the lagoons; the eggs hatch a month after deposited.
In their habitat they can live between 25 and 30 years, with proper care they can reach about 50 years in captivity.

Several things marvel at flamingos: one of them its ability to remain long without breathing to feed itself with its head in the water. Another, is the feature that allows them to stay and sleep on one leg, as well as the ability to develop great flight speed (up to 60km / h) being such large birds. One of its most colorful aspects is the variety of possibilities that its many vertebrae (between 16 and 20) give to the movements of its neck.

Flamingos share their habitat in harmony with many other species, including herons.

The photos that I leave were taken by me on the occasion of a civil movement that arose spontaneously in the city, following a threat to the habitat of these beautiful birds.

The construction of a housing complex in the area that occupies the body of water that receives the flamingos in migration had begun.
The civil movement managed to suspend the project and although a part of the lagoon was affected, it was possible to alert and paralyze the ecological damage, to the delight of the fans, among whom I count, of this wonderful species.

I think that at some point this area will be a protected area that will enhance the tourist attraction of our city. I also imagine a place of observation, which transmits serenity and allows contact with the species and the strengthening of an ecological conscience, essential in our times.
Venezuela has one of the largest populations of flamingos in the Caribbean. It is a joy and pride to be able to enjoy this presence.

I invite you to know and love these beautiful birds.

I say goodbye, thanking you for reading.

All photographs are own.

They were taken with a Panasonic camera, Lumix, DMC-FZ40