This article presents which in the Russian regions can be found almost exclusively in zoos. Surprisingly bewitching with its magnificent grace and unusual coloring of feathers, it is sung in songs. Where does flamingo live? What are the conditions of their captivity, features and habits, what do they eat?
The red flamingo has plumage ranging from pink to purple or bright red.
Flamingo small
Of all modern species small has the smallest dimensions. Its body length is only 80 cm (others are more than 100 cm). In this species, the beak has a keel that descends into the depth of the beak. Its main food is algae.
The small flamingo, when searching for food, does not lower its beak to the bottom, but simply leads it along the surface of the water from side to side. Breeds on salt lakes in Tanzania, Kenya, and off the coast of the Persian Gulf (Lake Sambhor in India).
Andean flamingo
Its habitat is salt lakes located in the Andes at an altitude of 2500 meters (north and center of Chile, southern Peru, northwest Argentina and western Bolivia). They prefer lakes, and often waters with high content gypsum, caustic soda and hydrogen sulfide.
Adult flamingos are painted white-pink or Beautiful pink-red colors are due to the pigment that enters the body of birds with crustaceans (food). The flight wings of this bird are black, the legs are yellow.
Flamingo James
Birds live in the Andes of Bolivia and in Northern Argentina. Food - diatoms. There are colonies of this species, living in the harsh conditions of the mountains.
This species, which is also called short-beaked, is very rare.
Chilean flamingo
This is a relatively short-legged flamingo found in South America. On mountain lakes (Andes) it can live together with a species of short-billed flamingos.
The color of the Chilean flamingo is light: scarlet or white-pink. Red hues are developed on the coverts, which is why flamingos got the Latin name meaning "fire-winged". The legs are greenish, but the knees and paws are red.
Conclusion
Where do flamingos live in North America?
These birds belong to one of the oldest bird families. Their remains closest to modern forms, date back 30 million years ago, and the fossils of more primitive species - more than 50 million years.
They were found in places where flamingos do not live today: some parts of Europe, North America and Australia. This suggests that in the past these amazing birds had a more extensive habitat.
Everyone knows about the existence of these beautiful noble birds, both adults and children. But not everyone saw them live in the zoo, but in wild nature- even less. Where do flamingos live? What is their habitat? What do they eat? How do different types differ from each other? The article will answer these questions.
Classification: species, genus, family, order
Flamingo (lat. Flamma - fire) is the only surviving genus of birds of the Flamingo family, which, in turn, belongs to the order Flamingos. In addition to them, the family includes several relict genera. The genus Flamingo includes several species: it is an ordinary or pink flamingo, Andean, red, Chilean, small, and James's flamingo.
These birds owe their name to the characteristic color of the wings, on which from above and from inside growing bright red feathers. It formed the basis of the official, scientific name of the genus - Phoenicopterus (Phoenicopterus), which was given to him by Carl Linnaeus. The scientist probably saw in the coloring of flamingos features that make them related to the mythical fiery Phoenix, burning down and reborn from the ashes.
Characteristic features, structure of birds
Flamingos have long, thin legs that allow them to roam freely in shallow water. On the toes there are membranes that allow the bird not to get stuck in the mud. The birds have a long, flexible neck that helps them bend low and search for prey in the water. But the most recognizable feature of flamingos of all kinds is their wide beak, curved down.
Flamingos can often be seen standing on one leg. They press the other at this time to reduce heat loss, since their thin long limbs have a fairly large surface. Birds get cold in windy weather. Standing on one leg does not cause them any inconvenience and is natural. It is not difficult to keep it in an unbent form of a flamingo; this position does not require any special muscular effort from them. The skin on the legs of birds is very dense. Due to this, they can live near very salty and even alkaline lakes and wander around them for several hours, looking for food.
Where pink flamingos live, the water is often unsuitable for drinking. But some planktonic organisms, such as brine shrimp, which make up the bulk of the pink flamingo's diet, live in very salty water, feel great and reproduce in it, including due to the lack of fish that simply cannot live in such reservoirs. Therefore, flamingos are very fond of such reservoirs. However, they can fly to freshwater reservoirs and springs to wash off excess salt and get drunk.
flamingo plumage
Flamingos owe their distinctive plumage color primarily to their diet. Coloring substances called lipochromes enter their body along with plankton containing the pigment canthaxanthin. When keeping birds in captivity, their diet, in addition to crustaceans, is enriched herbal products containing carotene - bell pepper, sweet carrots. Flamingo flight feathers are always black. According to scientists, this coloration is distracting and serves to mislead the predator, which, due to the black flight feathers flashing before the eyes, cannot determine the exact position of the prey.
Nutrition of adults and features of the diet of chicks
What do flamingos eat? And where does this beautiful bird live? Its main food is small crustaceans. Birds usually settle on the banks of shallow water bodies. With the help of a beak, in which the upper part is movable, and not the lower one, like all birds, flamingos scoop up water or liquid silt. The beak allows them to filter prey from water or silt. A powerful tongue makes pushing movements, water flows out through a covered beak, acting like a sieve. And only the edible part of the catch remains in the mouth - what can be swallowed. At the same time, in African flamingos (small ones), the beak is much thinner, and its possibilities as a filter are greater. Therefore, they can filter out not only small crustaceans and shrimps, but also unicellular algae.
Where flamingos live, there is a lot of food familiar to them. On the day the bird eats such an amount of food, the mass of which is about a quarter of its own weight. Their large colonies purify the mass of water daily in a natural way. Yes, one of the colonies pink flamingos, living in India, which includes about half a million birds, every day eats almost 145 tons of food.
In case of a shortage of familiar food, flamingos are able to make long flights to other water bodies - up to 50-60 kilometers.
Nursing offspring
Birds are monogamous. Nesting begins at the age of 5-6 years. The female flamingo lays 1-3 eggs at the same time, but most often there is one baby in each family. The nests of these birds have a bizarre conical shape. They are unique, no other bird family builds such. To create them, flamingos rake silt and dirt into a pile with their paws. The chicks leave the nest after a few days, and at the age of two and a half months they catch up with adults in size and begin to fly.
Interestingly, the beaks of newborn birds are straight, therefore, they cannot filter water. Parents come to the rescue, who feed the chicks for up to two months with the so-called bird's milk - a special red liquid secret. It is secreted by glands lining the esophagus from the inside. The composition of the secret includes fat, protein, a little plankton. The same hormone is responsible for the production of "milk" as in mammals, including humans.
A colony of its chicks brings up together, just as penguins do, and at the same time there can be several hundred babies in it.
Settlement area. flamingo
Where do flamingos live? In Russia, the pink flamingo is better known than others, it is also ordinary. This is the most common species, and also the only one that lives in the territory. former USSR- In Kazakhstan. In addition, although flamingos do not nest on the territory of our country, during seasonal migration they fly through Russia - Dagestan, the Volga region, the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, even affecting the south of Siberia. Wintering in these populations occurs in Afghanistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
Where do pink flamingos live in Europe? Their colonies are in southern France, southern Spain, in the south of the island of Sardinia. In Africa, this species lives in Morocco, South Tunisia, Kenya, in Asia - on the lakes of India, Afghanistan.
flamingo andean
Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 6 years. Clutch contains 1-2 eggs. Both males and females incubate the eggs. Representatives of this species are generally very difficult to distinguish by gender, although males are usually somewhat larger (2.5-3 kg, females - 2-2.5 kg). The growth of birds is 100-110 cm.
Red flamingos are kept in the Moscow Zoo along with pink ones. Representatives different types they are friendly to each other, but do not form mixed couples. They breed well in captivity and live up to 40-50 years.
Small
Where do flamingos live, in what country? This species is mainly found in Africa. He is the most numerous. These are small birds, only 80-90 cm in height. Its beak is darker than that of other species and has burgundy color. characteristic black spot at the end of the beak is also present. The horny plates on it are well developed, thanks to which the small flamingo can filter the water more thoroughly than other species.
If you do not feed the small flamingo with the usual food, in captivity, like other species, it quickly becomes white, not counting the characteristic black tips of feathers. These birds are good swimmers.
Instead of a conclusion
Thus, to the question of where flamingos with pink color live, the answers may be different, because different kinds these birds are painted in this color to varying degrees. An exception can be considered, perhaps, only the red flamingo because of its specific color. In general, the distribution area of \u200b\u200bthis genus covers the countries of South America, Asia, southern Europe, caribbean, parts of the African continent.
The most incredible birds live on our planet. They, and all the colors of the rainbow, and plain. Fluffy or no feathers at all. Huge eagles or miniature canaries. Chickens, ducks, owls, owls, turkeys, peacocks and parrots.
And what do we know about rare birds listed in the Red Book? Absolutely nothing. One of the representatives of this book is Pink Flamingos. These are such ancient birds, one would assume that they saw dinosaurs. After all, the very first, ancient fossilized flamingo skeleton , over forty-five million years!
Description and features of flamingos
flamingo bird , African and southern parts Asian continent, some territorial parts of southern Europe. And even in St. Petersburg and Dagestan, they were noticed.
Pink flamingos- one of major representatives kind. The rest of them are: Common and Red flamingos. Andean and Chilean flamingos. Small and Flamingo James.
The smallest of flamingo species, this is Small. It does not grow even a meter high, and already an adult bird weighs only two kilograms. Pink adults individuals flamingos weigh four or five kilograms.
BUT flamingo growth, one and a half meters. In fact, they have the longest necks and legs when compared to the crane and heron families. Well, as always happens in nature, males, of course, are larger and more beautiful than females.
flamingo color a variety of shades, from dirty white, gray, to rich coral, purple. And their color depends on what they eat. After all, some algae eaten color their feathers in a subtly pink hue.
And the more flamingos eat those same algae, the brighter the color will be. And the tips of the wings are black. But this can only be seen when the bird is in flight. After all, there is no more beautiful sight than a flock of flying Pink Flamingos.
The head of a flamingo is small, but it has a huge beak. The edges of which are equipped with very small teeth partitions. The upper part of the beak is curved, similar to a knee, pointed towards the bottom.
And only it is a movable part, unlike the bottom. The base of the beak and up to its half is light, the end is dark, almost black. The neck is longer and thinner than the swan's, so the bird quickly gets tired of keeping it straight, and often throws it on its back to relax the muscles. On the chin and in the eye area, flamingos have no feathers at all. The plumage of the whole bird is loose. And their tails are very short.
The wingspan of an adult flamingo is one and a half meters. It is interesting that, having become lazy, the bird completely loses feathers on its wings, and all at once. And for a whole month, until she fledges again, she becomes vulnerable, defenseless against predators. Since it completely loses the ability to fly.
The legs of pink flamingos are thin and long. In the event of an escape, in order to take off, they need to run another five meters along a shallow bank. Then taking off, flapping wings very often.
And already being in the air, keep the neck, evenly extended, in the forward direction. Legs also do not bend throughout the journey. Like a flock of pink crosses flying across the sky.
Also, visible on flamingo photo, they always stand on one leg. And it's not just that. They have to stay in the water for a long time, which is not always warm. Therefore, in order not to overcool their body, the flamingo now and then changes one or the other leg.
The front toes are elongated, have membranes like those of waterfowl. And the back toe, like a small process, is on the leg, higher than the front ones. Or some don't have it at all.
The nature and lifestyle of flamingos
flamingo birds live in large flocks, consisting of several hundred thousand birds. They live on the quiet banks of rivers and ponds. These birds are not all migratory.
Because which one of them lives on southern territories, then they don’t need to fly for the winter. Well, the inhabitants of the northern regions, of course, with the advent of cold weather, are looking for warmer places to live.
Reservoirs for living, birds choose not deep-sea, and only with salt water. Fish, flamingo, practically not interested . They need a large number of crustaceans and algae that color birds. And since they choose such lakes for themselves, the lakeside shoreline is also painted pink.
The skin on the paws is so versatile that the salt in the water does not damage it in any way. And to get drunk, birds fly in fresh water, or lick rainwater from their feathers after rainfall.
Reproduction and lifespan of flamingos
Puberty occurs in birds by the age of four. And just then, their feathers begin to acquire pink hues. Birds can mate different time of the year. But they prefer warm summer days. Then there is more food, and the climate for offspring flamingos better.
It all starts with the flirting of the male with the female. He circles around the lady of the heart, raising and lowering his head, flapping his short wings, and, as it were, pinching her with his beak. When the half reciprocates, she completely begins to follow the man, repeating his movements.
It looks like a very beautiful dance. If a couple is chosen, then once and for the rest of their lives. After all, birds are very devoted to each other. They move away from the pack a little to mate.
After, the male starts building a house for the future offspring. He builds it only on the water, so that no predator can get to the helpless children. The composition of the future home is clay compounds, twigs, feathers.
And the building must necessarily rise above the water. The nest looks like a square hill, in the middle with a hollow for eggs. The female lays one, rarely two eggs, uniformly white color.
And together with their companion, they begin to incubate. When one of them sits in the nest, the second one eats at this time, restores strength. On the nest, flamingos sit with their knees bent. And only leaning on the beak, they can rise.
A month later, snow-white, fluffy like snowflakes babies appear. What is interesting, since flamingos live in large families, and their nests are located next to each other. Every parent recognizes their child by the squeak.
After all, while still in the shell, the chicks were already making sounds. It is not customary for flamingos to feed other people's children, like cuckoos. Therefore, if suddenly something happens to the parents, the little chick will die of hunger.
The first week, the offspring are fed with excretory secretion, pink in color, in composition very similar to the milk of animals, and people too. And just like that, after seven or eight days, the chicks jump out of their shelter to splash on the water, and profit from something. And they will be able to learn to fly and fully, eat on their own, only after three months of their lives.
In the wild, pink flamingos live for thirty or even forty years. In zoos and reserves, much longer. In one of the protected areas, there is a flamingo old-timer, he is already in his eighth decade.
Flamingo food
Flamingo birds live in large, friendly flocks. But when the time comes flamingo food, they begin to zealously divide the territory, not letting anyone in, to their chosen place of catch.
They begin to look for food, raking the muddy bottom with their membranes on their fingers. Then they lower their head down, and twist it so that the beak turns out to be a sharp end to the top.
And having opened it, they swallow everything in a row, along with water. Then closing the beak, and its edges, as we already know, are serrated. Releases completely all the water from the cylindrical beak. Well, what's left, swallows. Whether it is a crustacean, or a fry, or a tadpole, or a component of the bottom itself.
Do not forget that pink flamingos are listed in the Red Book of Russia. Though flamingo population and not on the verge of extinction, yet you need to be very careful about the reproduction of their species.
Many birds die from predatory animals, foxes and badgers. From birds of prey that destroy nests, these are gulls and vultures. During the flight, accidentally sitting down to rest, on electric wires.
A lot of rivers and lakes have dried up, on which these birds lived. And although they are ancient earthly inhabitants, they still treat people with prejudice. And they settle in places very remote from humans.
Because it is people who are the most terrible enemies. Instead of saving, we are destroying such beautiful creatures. Eating their meat, eggs. Using their unusual feathers for jewelry.
And you never know the fattening rich who, by all means, want to get such an outlandish bird into their household, knowing nothing at all about it. As a result, flamingos die stupidly.
Flamingo is an unusually graceful and beautiful bird. It belongs to the flamingo order. These birds are the only ones in their order who have thin long legs and a graceful flexible neck. The flamingo bird, the photo and description of which we have prepared for you, is an amazing animal on our earth.
Appearance of a flamingo
Flamingo feathers are loose and soft, the tail is short. There is no plumage on the head, chin and around the eyes. An adult flamingo grows up to 130 centimeters tall and can weigh about 4.5 kilograms.
Species, habitat and lifestyle
In nature, there are such types of flamingos as:
- flamingo James (settles in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia);
- common flamingo (lives in the southern regions of Eurasia and Africa);
- red flamingo (lives in South America, on Galapagos Islands and near the Caribbean Islands);
- Andean flamingo (lives in the same place as James's flamingo);
- small flamingo (lives in Africa, in southern India and eastern Pakistan);
- Chilean flamingo (found in the southwestern part of South America).
These magnificent animals settle only in large colonies; lagoons and shallow reservoirs are their favorite habitats. In general, flamingos are very resistant birds, they can even cope with those natural conditions that some other bird species cannot do. For example, a colony can live near very salty or high mountain lakes, and, in addition, birds are able to adapt to sudden temperature fluctuations.
The lifestyle is sedentary, with the exception of pink flamingos, which are migratory birds.
What is the basis of flamingo nutrition?
The favorite food of these birds are insect larvae, worms, small crustaceans, algae and mollusks. It is noteworthy that the pink color in flamingos is obtained due to crustaceans, which are eaten and contain carotenoids in their composition.
In general, flamingos get their food in shallow water. Above the bird's beak there is something like a "float". This "device" gives the bird the opportunity for a long time, without much effort, keep your head in the upper layer of water. The absorption of food occurs as follows: the bird draws a lot of water into its mouth, closes it, and with the help of a special “strainer”, the water is pushed through, and the plankton is swallowed inside.
Flamingos - perhaps the owners of the brightest plumage among all birds Flamingo breeding
Flamingos are nesting birds. She builds her "dwelling" in a compaction of silt. The building material is small shells, mud, silt. The nests are in the shape of a cone. Flamingos incubate about three eggs. Eggs are large, white in color.
Little chicks hatch already quite developed. And, a few days after birth, they can already independently get out of the parental nest.
The food for babies is bird's milk, which the chicks eat for the first two months after hatching. This mixture is formed in the mother's esophagus and has a pinkish color, because a quarter consists of the parent's blood. How blood gets there is a puzzle for biologists and zoologists. And yet, it is a fact.
How do chicks get enough of one bird's milk? There is nothing surprising in this, because this "mother" food is very nutritious in composition and is similar to the milk that is produced by mammals.
Listen to the voice of the flamingo
After the beak of baby flamingos is finally formed, they begin to get food on their own, from the water. To the size of adults, the chicks grow by two and a half months, at the same time they begin to fly.
“This is a wonderful bird,” – this is how the Russian traveler Grigory Karelin, who studied the nature of Kazakhstan in the 19th century, spoke about the red-billed (flamingo). “In appearance, she is the same among birds as a camel among quadrupeds,” Karelin explained his thought.
Flamingo Description
Indeed, the appearance of the bird is remarkable - a large body, very high legs and neck, a characteristic curved beak and amazing pink plumage. The family Phoenicopteridae (flamingos) includes 4 species, united in 3 genera: some ornithologists believe that there are still five species. Two genera have long since died out.
The oldest remains of fossil flamingos were found in the UK. The smallest representatives of the family are small flamingos (weighing 2 kg and less than 1 m tall), and the most popular are Phoenicopterus ruber (common flamingos), growing up to 1.5 m and weighing 4–5 kg.
Appearance
Flamingo rightfully bears the title of not only the longest-legged, but also the longest-necked bird.. The flamingo has a small head, but a huge beak that is larger than it and curved downwards, in which (unlike most birds) it is not the mandible that moves, but the beak. The edges of the massive beak are equipped with horny plates and denticles, with the help of which the birds filter the slurry in order to get food.
It is interesting! Its neck (in relation to the size of the body) is longer and thinner than that of a swan, which is why the flamingo gets tired of holding it straight and periodically throws it on its back so that the muscles rest.
There are also horny plates on the upper surface of the fleshy thick tongue. In flamingos, the upper half of the lower leg is feathered, and the tarsus is almost three times as long as the latter. A developed swimming membrane is noticeable between the front fingers, and the back finger is very small or absent. The plumage is loose and soft. On the head there are non-feathered zones - rings around the eyes, chin and bridle. Wings of moderate length, wide, edged with black (not always).
The short tail consists of 12–16 tail feathers, where the middle pair is the longest. Not all types of flamingos are colored in shades of red (from soft pink to purple), sometimes it is off-white or gray.
Lipochromes, coloring pigments that enter the body with food, are responsible for coloring. The wingspan is 1.5 m. When molting, lasting a month, the flamingo loses plumage on its wings and becomes completely vulnerable, losing the ability to take off in danger.
Character and lifestyle
Flamingos are rather phlegmatic birds, roaming the shallow water from morning to night in search of food and occasionally resting. Between themselves, they communicate with the help of sounds reminiscent of the cackle of geese, only more bass and louder. At night, the voice of the flamingo is heard like a trumpet melody.
When threatened by a predator or a person in a boat, the flock first moves to the side and then rises into the air. True, acceleration is difficult - about five meters the bird runs through shallow water, flapping its wings, and already soaring, takes a few more “steps” along the water surface.
It is interesting! If you look at the flock from below, it seems that crosses are flying across the sky - in the air, the flamingo stretches its neck forward and straightens its long legs.
Flying flamingos are also compared with an electric garland, whose links either flash bright red or go out, showing the observer the dark colors of plumage. Flamingos, despite their exotic beauty, can live in conditions that oppress other animals, such as near salt/alkaline lakes.
There is no fish here, but many small crustaceans (brine shrimp) - the main food of flamingos. The dense skin on the legs and visits to fresh water bodies, where flamingos wash off salt and quench their thirst, save the birds from the aggressive environment. In addition, they are not
How long does a flamingo live
According to ornithologists, in the wild, birds live up to 30-40 years.. In captivity, life expectancy is almost doubled. They say that in one of the reserves there is a flamingo that has celebrated its 70th anniversary.
Standing on one leg
This know-how was not invented by flamingos - many long-legged birds (including storks) practice the one-legged stance to minimize heat loss in windy weather.
It is interesting! The fact that the bird quickly chills is to blame for its exorbitantly long legs, devoid of saving plumage almost to the top. That is why the flamingo is forced to tighten and warm one leg or the other.
From the side, the pose seems extremely uncomfortable, but the flamingo itself does not feel discomfort at all. The supporting limb remains extended without the application of any muscular force, as it does not bend due to a special anatomical adaptation.
The same mechanism works when a flamingo perches on a branch: the tendons on the bent legs are stretched and force the toes tightly around the branch. If the bird falls asleep, the "grip" is not weakened, preventing it from falling from the tree.
Range, habitats
Flamingos are found predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions:
- Africa;
- Asia;
- America (Central and South);
- Southern Europe.
So, several extensive colonies of the common flamingo are seen in the south of France, Spain and Sardinia. Despite the fact that bird colonies often number hundreds of thousands of flamingos, none of the species can boast of a continuous range. Nesting occurs scattered, in areas sometimes separated by thousands of kilometers from each other..
Flamingos usually settle along the shores of shallow salty reservoirs or on sea shallows, trying to stay in open landscapes. They nest both on high mountain lakes (Andes) and on plains (Kazakhstan). Birds generally lead a sedentary (rarely wandering) lifestyle. Only populations of common flamingos that live in northern countries migrate.
Flamingo Diet
The peaceful disposition of flamingos is spoiled when the birds have to fight for food. At this moment, good-neighborly relations cease, turning into a division of abundant territories.
The diet of flamingos consists of such organisms and plants as:
- small crustaceans;
- shellfish;
- insect larvae;
- water worms;
- algae, including diatoms.
The narrow food specialization is reflected in the device of the beak: its upper part is equipped with a float that supports the head in the water.
The stages of nutrition rapidly alternate and look like this:
- Looking for plankton, the bird twists its head so that the upper beak is below.
- The flamingo opens its beak to scoop up water and closes it.
- Water is pushed by the tongue through the sieve, and the food is swallowed.
The gastronomic selectivity of flamingos is even more narrowed by certain types. So, James's flamingos eat flies, snails and diatoms. The lesser flamingo eats exclusively blue-green and diatoms, switching to rotifers and brine shrimp only when water bodies dry up.
It is interesting! By the way, the pink color of the plumage depends on the presence of red crustaceans containing carotenoids in the feed. The more crustaceans, the more intense the color.
Reproduction and offspring
Despite the rather late fertility (5–6 years), females are able to lay eggs as early as 2 years old.. When nesting, flamingo colonies grow to half a million birds, and the nests themselves are no more than 0.5–0.8 m apart.
Nests (from silt, shell rock and mud) are not always built in shallow water, sometimes flamingos build them (from feathers, grass and pebbles) on rocky islands or lay their eggs directly in the sand without making depressions. The clutch contains 1–3 eggs (usually two), which are incubated by both parents for 30–32 days.
It is interesting! Flamingos sit on the nest with their legs tucked in. To stand up, the bird needs to tilt its head, rest its beak on the ground, and only then straighten its limbs.
Chicks are born with straight beaks, which begin to curve after 2 weeks, and after a couple of weeks the first fluff changes to a new one. “Already you drank our blood,” - the right to address this phrase to children is, perhaps, precisely the flamingos that feed them with milk, where 23% is parental blood.
Milk, comparable in nutritional value to cow's, is colored pink and is produced by special glands located in the esophagus of an adult bird. The mother feeds the brood with bird's milk for about two months, until the beak of the chicks is completely strong. As soon as the beak has grown and taken shape, the young flamingo begins to forage on its own.
By their 2.5 months, young flamingos become winged, growing to the size of adult birds, and fly away from their parental home. Flamingos are monogamous birds, changing pair only when their partner dies.
