American Flamingo Identification

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American Flamingo Photos and Videos

Adult

A large, unmistakable wading bird with extremely long legs, a very long neck often held in an S-shape, and a thick, uniquely shaped bill. Adult has a bright pink head, neck, tail, and wings; paler pink upperparts; a pale yellow eye; and a tricolored bill, with a whitish base, pink midsection, and black tip.

Adult

Flies with neck fully outstretched. In flight, note the black trailing edge to the wings and intense pink “armpits.”

Adult

A brilliant pink bird with long legs and an exceptionally long, thin neck. Birds stride slowly through shallow water, head submerged, filtering crustaceans, mollusks, and other aquatic invertebrates from the water.

Adult

The unique bill is used to filter water for small aquatic invertebrates like crustaceans, mollusks, and insect larvae.

Juvenile

Juvenile looks like a monochrome version of adult, patterned in white, gray, black, and brown. Legs are gray; bill is mostly gray with a black tip. Young birds acquire full adult plumage after about three years.

Flock

A highly social species, often occurring in large foraging flocks. In flight, long neck is fully outstretched.

Flock

A highly social species that forages in large flocks and frequently nests in huge colonies.

Flock

Vocal birds give gooselike honks. Note striking black flight feathers when birds open their wings.

Adult

Feeding birds filter out small food items by using their large tongues to push water through comblike structures in their bills.

See more images of this species in Macaulay Library

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Roseate Spoonbill

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Identification

Unmistakable but very local wading bird with very long, ‘coat-hanger’ neck and very long legs. Adult is hot pink, but 1st-year birds are brown and white overall, attaining fully adult colors in 2-3 years. Usually found in flocks in shallow, saline lagoons. Flamingoes fly in straggling lines, much like geese, and their honking and braying calls can also sound rather like geese. Beware that many people use ‘flamingo’ for Roseate Spoonbill, another (much more widespread) pink wading bird, which other than color is very differently shaped than a flamingo.