A rare lesser flamingo turns up beside greater flamingos at Jahra Nature Reserve
Kuwait's environment society photographed both species together during this autumn's migration, an uncommon pairing here.
A lesser flamingo has been photographed standing alongside greater flamingos at Jahra Nature Reserve during this autumn’s bird migration. Samira Al-Khalifa, who leads the environmental photography team at the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, told KUNA on 26 October 2026 that the record matters because the lesser flamingo is rarely seen in Kuwait, and the two species are even more rarely seen together.
Telling them apart
- Lesser flamingo: smaller, a deeper pink, and a dark bill that shades to deep red with a black tip.
- Greater flamingo: taller, with a pale bill tipped in black.
Why the sighting counts
The IUCN Red List classes the lesser flamingo as Near Threatened worldwide, under pressure from shrinking wetlands, shifting water levels and salinity, and pollution. Jahra’s shallow water and mudflats make it a stopover on the migration routes that cross Kuwait.
Flamingos feed on tiny aquatic animals such as small crustaceans. They stir the mud with their feet and sieve the water with their bills, which also lifts nutrients off the bottom for everything else living there.
Visiting the reserve
Jahra Nature Reserve is entered only with a permit from the Environment Public Authority, and birds are watched from closed hides. Our guide to the Jahra reserve permit walks through the booking. Check the authority’s portal before you book, as terms can change.
Photo: three lesser flamingos wading, an illustrative picture from Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, not Jahra. By Charles J Sharp, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), as carried by Al-Qabas, 26 October 2026.
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