Kenya’s Lake Logipi is awash with pink lesser flamingos

Like some vast alien invasion storming across the galaxy, impossibly beautiful lesser flamingos lay claim to the alkaline waters of Lake Logipi in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. The vibrant pink creatures use their beaks to filter-feed on the lake’s verdant algae, which contains photosynthetic pigments that stain the water a rich green and tint the feathers of the birds from within. Despite its colourful appearance from the air, the flamingos’ home is an inhospitable one to most other species, including humans, with scalding temperatures and caustic mud that the birds use to build their conical nests. The lesser flamingo’s ability to thrive in such a harsh environment has been the key to its survival but climate change and human activity could pose a threat, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which recently listed the species as “near threatened”.