Terri Chapman Photography
Capturing the Splendor of Nature and Divine Light
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
A Chilean Flamingo
Flamingos are extremely gregarious and social birds with some flocks containing 200,000 pairs. They breed in huge colonies, sometimes on islands in shallow water to minimize disturbance. They are monogamous. Each pair builds a cylindrical mud nest into which the female lays a single chalky shelled egg. Both parents incubate the egg alternately, which hatches in about four weeks; and it takes another ten weeks before the chick fledges. After hatching, the chick is fed “crop milk”, cells that are grown in the crops of both parents. After about one month the chick begins to eat solid food. Since the adult coloration comes from their food, the chicks are born with gray feathers. It takes about two years to attain full adult coloration. Flamingos are strong flyers, flying in long curved lines with the neck and legs extended. Flamingos are estimated to live between 25-60 years.
- No Comments