I am sure most people have come across a flamingo in their lifetime so far; whether it be a live one or a plastic ornament placed in someone's front lawn. Flamingos are prominently recognized as the pink bird with a long neck that stands on one leg, but there is much more to this magnificent bird than you may not know.
Flamingos are tall wading birds that are distinguished by their pink color, thick downward turned bills, long thin legs and neck, large wings, and short tail. They range from three to five feet tall. Young flamingos are white and turn pink as they grow. When flamingos fly, they have their legs and neck stretched out, but when they are at rest they pull one leg up to stand solely on the other and bend and curl their necks into their body.
Flamingos build a nest made of muddy clay piled up a few inches in the shape of a shortened cone, typically in a shallow lagoon or shallow water. Specific areas flamingos inhabit are along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico in tropical and subtropical America, up high in the Andes Mountains, the lake district of East Africa, Southern Europe and Asia, Madagascar, and India.
In order to find food flamingos will put their heads down and bills underwater as they walk through shallow water, using their webbed feet to stir up the ground beneath. Their diet may consist of diatoms, algae, and invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans. To eat their food, flamingos swing their heads to strain the muddy water away through comb like structures inside their bills.
There are six different species of Flamingo. Several are named after the place they inhabit.
