Flamingos

Flamingos are large wading birds found throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean), and two species are native to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Flamingos are famous for their habit of standing on one leg with the other tucked beneath the body. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom. Flamingos are omnivores and filter feeders. Their bills are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat and are uniquely used upside-down. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoids in their diet of animal and plant plankton. American flamingos are a brighter red color because of the beta carotene availability in their food while the Lesser flamingos are a paler pink due to ingesting a smaller amount of this pigment. Flamingos are very social birds; they live in colonies whose population can number in the thousands. They are considered very noisy birds that communicate with the help of grunts or growling to nasal honks. Vocalizations play an important role in parent-chick recognition, ritualized displays, and keeping large flocks together.