Flamingo Standing in Water Coloring Page: PDF Sheet

Flamingos and Their Life in the Water

Where the Pink Color Comes From

Flamingos are not born pink. Chicks hatch with fluffy grey or white feathers, and their famous rosy color develops slowly as they grow. The pink comes from their food. Flamingos eat tiny algae and small shrimp that are full of natural pigments called carotenoids, the same kind of coloring that makes carrots orange, and those pigments gradually tint the bird's feathers. A flamingo that eats richer food turns a deeper, brighter pink.

Because their color comes from their diet, flamingos in different parts of the world can be different shades, from pale blush to fiery coral. Zookeepers even add special carotenoid-rich food to keep captive flamingos rosy. On this coloring page you can pick any shade of pink, orange, or coral you like for the feathers.

Standing on One Leg

Flamingos are famous for resting on a single long leg, tucking the other up beneath their body. Scientists have found that this pose actually takes very little effort, because a flamingo can lock its leg in place and balance without using much muscle at all. Standing on one leg may also help the bird stay warm by keeping one foot out of the cool water at a time.

Those long legs and webbed feet are perfect for wading through shallow lakes and lagoons. A flamingo can stir up the muddy bottom with its feet to loosen food, then reach down with its neck to feed, the same shallow water shown rippling around the legs in this scene.

The Upside-Down Beak

A flamingo's curved beak is one of the strangest tools in the bird world. To feed, the flamingo lowers its head and holds its beak upside down in the water, then uses its thick tongue to pump water through comb-like ridges that strain out algae and tiny creatures. It works much like a whale's baleen, filtering food from the water and letting the muddy liquid flow back out.

This special filter feeding lets flamingos thrive in salty and alkaline lakes where few other animals can eat, giving them a habitat almost to themselves. Their long S-shaped neck, with its many bones, curls and stretches to reach the water easily while the bird's body stays upright.

Flamingos in Their Colonies

Flamingos are highly social birds that gather in enormous flocks, sometimes numbering tens of thousands, and a group of flamingos is fittingly called a flamboyance. Living in big colonies helps protect them from predators and makes it easier to find mates. Together they perform group displays, marching and turning their heads in unison like a giant pink dance.

Parent flamingos build cone-shaped mud nests and lay a single egg on top, and both the mother and father feed the chick a special bright red crop milk made in their throats. Flamingos live on shallow lakes and lagoons across Africa, the Caribbean, South America, southern Europe, and Asia, and their graceful shape has made them one of the most recognizable birds anywhere.