The post Adorable American Flamingo Chick Takes Its First Steps appeared first on A-Z Animals.
American flamingos are elegant and graceful creatures, but their chicks are super cute. In this gorgeous clip, you can follow one little chick from their early, tentative steps to when they enter the water with the adults. Let’s learn a little more about flamingo chick development.
American flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) are also called Caribbean flamingos and are found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia. They live in large colonies that can contain thousands of individuals. In the wild, you will mainly see them on large mud flats, usually near a food supply. They have a preference for hypersaline estuaries where they filter feed by stirring up sediment at the bottom of shallow water. They eat small water creatures, including fish, insects, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, and zooplankton.
American Flamingo Reproduction
American flamingoes live in colonies that can have thousands of members.
©Khairil Azhar Junos/Shutterstock.com
American flamingos are generally monogamous and remain together to nurture their young. Often, they will stay together for many years. They have no set breeding season, and the chicks can be born at any time of the year. However, most breeding takes place in late spring or early summer because this is when more food is available. Both birds contribute to nest building. As shown in the clip, the nest is a small, circular mound of mud about 12 inches high. Sometimes, vegetation, twigs, or feathers are mixed into the mud. Flamingo eggs are around the size of a grapefruit and milky white. Usually, only one egg is laid per breeding cycle. Incubation takes around 28 to 32 days, and when the chicks hatch, they weigh a few ounces. The hatchlings are semi-precocial, which means that they have their eyes open, have downy feathers, and can leave the nest. However, they cannot feed themselves.
Chick Development
Flamingo chicks are not miniature versions of their parents. Instead of the bright pink plumage, they have grey/white downy-type feathers. Their legs (which are thicker than an adult’s) and bills are also dark grey, and they will not become pink until they have matured. This is because the pink coloration comes from carotenoid compounds in the flamingo’s diet. It usually takes around three years for the juveniles to mature. However, some individuals have been seen with grey plumage up until five years of age.
Chicks first leave the nest and join other young flamingos when they are between five and eight days old. However, the parents continue to watch over them until they fledge between 65 and 90 days of age. When they reach adulthood, flamingos stand around 4 feet tall with a wingspan of 5 feet. If this chick makes it into adulthood, it may have a lifespan of around 40 years or even longer in captivity.
The post Adorable American Flamingo Chick Takes Its First Steps appeared first on A-Z Animals.
August 21, 2025 at 11:32PMSharon Parry.jpeg)
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