Photographer Claudio Contreras Koob
THESE dazzling photos showcase one of the world’s most distinctive birds: the flamingo. Taken by biologist and photographer , the images are a selection from his new photography book, , which captures the lives of colonies in the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico.
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An aerial view of Yucatán’s flamingos is shown in the final photo. The Ría Lagartos delta, located at the northern edge of the peninsula, and the Celestun estuary, which is a few hundred kilometres to the west, provide wetlands that are an ideal habitat for these wading birds. Shallow waters make these estuaries excellent for nesting and feeding. The region sustains some of the world’s largest populations of flamingos.
In the lead photo, a flamingo chick peeks out from the bright pink-orange plumage of its parent, while the images following it show a lone adult and one of the peninsula’s crowded nesting sites. Flamingo mud nests must be continuously maintained to ensure rising water doesn’t wash away any eggs.
