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You’ll never see these birds in the wild in Pennsylvania.
Flying with legs and necks extended these greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) — an adult and sub-adult — are at Walvis Bay in Namibia, Africa.
Pennsylvania does have a large native bird that flies this way with neck and legs extended. It breeds in western PA and has been seen in Crawford County recently.
Can you guess the species?
(photo by Yathin S Krishnappa from Wikimedia Commons.Click on the image to see the original)
We saw two Sandhill Cranes near the town of Geneva in Crawford County about three years ago!
I’m thinking of the Cranes I’ve seen. Possibly a Blue Heron?
Blue heron?
Sandhill Cranes. Though they don’t breed in PA and are rare in NW PA, Glossy Ibis also has a long neck and long legs, both extended in flight, although this species is substantially smaller than cranes or flamingos. One Glossy Ibis was seen earlier this year in western Crawford County.
Loon?
Several of you knew what I had in mind. Yes, sandhill cranes breed in Lawrence County, PA (maybe elsewhere too), have been seen in Crawford County recently (I saw 3 at Miller’s Pond near Pymatuning on 11/3) and they fly with their neck and legs extended.
I got to see some wild Flamingos in Portugal. I asked my guide a really stupid question about them: could they swim? You only see them in shallow water, but how do they land? What if they landed in water that was deeper than they expected? It turns out that they can swim, but I still have no idea how they land.