American flamingo Facts for Kids

Phoenicopterus ruber · fee-nih-KOP-ter-us ROO-ber

Pink from the food it eats, it often rests on one leg.

🏃 speed: not yet checked
⚖️ 4 to 7.9 lb1.8 to 3.6 kg1
📏 4.9 ft1.5 m1 tall
🎂 40 to 60 years40 to 60 years1
🍽️ plants and animals
Doing fine (Least Concern)

Flamingos are pink birds with very long legs. They often stand on one leg. They eat with their beaks upside down in the water.

A baby flamingo is gray, and it turns pink from what it eats. Tiny shrimp and algae hold a natural pink color, and it ends up in the flamingo's feathers. To eat, a flamingo scoops up water in its bent beak and strains out the food with tiny comb-like plates.

A flamingo feeds with its head upside down, pumping water through its bill so that comb-like plates trap the food. Scientists think that standing on one leg helps it keep warm in cool water. Flamingos live in big, noisy flocks and build nests of mud shaped like little hills. Both parents feed their chick a rich red liquid called crop milk, made in their throats.

How big is a American flamingo?

🧒 our measuring child, 4 ft1.2 m🦩 American flamingo, 5 ft1.5 m tall

American flamingo in numbers

Length	no checked number yet
Height	4.9 ft1.5 m1standing height
Weight	4 to 7.9 lb1.8 to 3.6 kg1
Top speed	no checked number yet
How long it lives	40 to 60 years40 to 60 years1
What it eats	tiny shrimp, small snails and algae from shallow water
Where it lives	shallow lagoons and salty lakes around the Caribbean, in Florida, Mexico and northern South America
What kind	Birds
Is it in danger?	Doing fine (Least Concern)2

A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.

Wow!

A baby flamingo is gray, not pink.
The backward bend in a flamingo's leg is really its ankle.
Both parents feed their chick a red milk from their throats.

Compare the American flamingo

Friends and neighbours

Three questions

What does the American flamingo eat?

Plants and animalsFishTiny sea life

The answer: Plants and animals. It eats tiny shrimp, small snails and algae from shallow water.

Where does the American flamingo live?

SnowPondsDesert

The answer: Ponds. It lives in shallow lagoons and salty lakes around the Caribbean, in Florida, Mexico and northern South America.

What kind of animal is the American flamingo?

AmphibianFishBird

The answer: Bird. It's a bird: feathers, wings and eggs.

Books about the American flamingo, free at the library

Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the American flamingo for free.

Where these numbers come from

Smithsonian's National Zoo, checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, American flamingo (Q208004), checked 30 October 2026.