The American Flamingo

The adult American Flamingo is close to five feet tall but weighs only 6 to 8 pounds. The bulk of their height is in their long, thin legs and their neck. Flamingos vary in color from white to pink to red. The difference in color is due to the crustaceans they eat. Denied a diet of shrimp and their feathers, except for their black wing feathers, will slowly lighten eventually turning white.

The American Flamingo has long thin legs that are ideal for wading. Their long, curved neck allows them to dip their boomerang shaped beak into the water. They use their beak to filter out the water and trap food.

The American Flamingo breeds in the Galapagos Islands and along the coast of Colombia and Venezuela, and nearby islands. Their residency in the United States is limited to Cape Sable, Florida where huge flocks are often seen. As with all flamingos, they inhabit lagoons, mudflats, and brackish coastal waterways.

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The American Flamingo is a long lived bird which is fortunate considering they don't reach sexual maturity for six or more years. A single egg is laid on top of a muddy mound and is incubated for 28 to 32 days. The young will leave the nest after five days but return to feed. They produce a fluid in the digestive system that is dibbled into the mouth of the young. After a few weeks the young will start hunting for its own food.

Breeding can occur in any season. Rain fall and the current food supply are the biggest determining factors. If conditions are not right, the American Flamingo will not breed. But if the conditions are right, they will produce two broods in one year.

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The American Flamingo dines on crustaceans (shrimp) which attributes to its pink coloring. It will also eat insects, aquatic plants and algae. They eat by putting their head upside-down into the water looking backwards. They use their beak to filter the tiny organisms and nutrients from the water.

In 1956 the population of American Flamingos had dropped to only 21,500. The numbers have increased since then and are considered stable.

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