Of the six species of flamingo, the American Flamingo is the only species of flamingo naturally found in North America. They range from northern South America through parts of the Caribbean and into southern Florida in the United States. It is also known as the Caribbean Flamingo and was previously known as the Rosy Flamingo.
American Flamingos are highly gregarious and are known to only breed when in a large colony of birds -- usually at least 50 birds but up to thousands. Flamingos feed in shallow water, filtering out food items from the water with sieve-like structures on their beak called lamellae.
The American Flamingo has the brightest pink plumage of all the flamingo species. All flamingos get their pink plumage from the food they eat.
Flamingo Extreme Facts & Oddities
Flamingo Week continues today with some interesting flamingo extremes and odd facts about this family of pink birds.
Extremely Social Birds
Flamingos live in colonies that may number thousands of individuals. Breeding is also ... more
