Renesting and brooding in the Caribbean flamingo

Abstract

Abstract Caribbean flamingos were observed during the 1981 breeding season at the Audubon Zoological Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana. Two floods occurred during the breeding season, causing the flock to nest three times. At each new nesting there was a significant decline in the number of birds laying eggs. One pair brooded a chick during the final nesting. Immediately after hatching, the female usually brooded while the male defended the nest area; however, over the three‐day period that the chick remained on the nest, the male began to spend more time brooding and less time defending the nest area. Thus there appeared to be some division of labor in this flamingo pair.