Story Behind the Photo: American Flamingo
The most colorful of the six species of Flamingos, the American Flamingo is native to the Caribbean and some areas of Central and South America. The secret to their intense pink feathers is in their diet of crustaceans and algae, filtered in their unique shaped beaks. While you are more likely to find plastic pink flamingo lawn ornaments in Florida, there are a few American Flamingos that come to south Florida to breed each year. The Sarasota Jungle Gardens in Sarasota, FL, has a rather large flock of American Flamingos that are allowed to roam freely, one of the few flocks in zoos around the county permitted to do so. Much larger in person that I expected, American Flamingos can grow up to 57″ tall with a wingspan just as large, and are quite the noisy bunch!
Nice photo and post. Thanks for sharing.
January 26, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Steve!
January 26, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Absolutely gorgeous bird, excellent photograph. Never realized that they’re so large!
January 26, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Thanks Alex! I didn’t either until I was standing next to one!
January 26, 2011 at 11:56 pm
I got to see some of those beautiful birds when I visited Busch Gardens in Tampa 4 years ago. You can see one of my shots here – http://flic.kr/p/9dw9o3
January 27, 2011 at 2:41 am
Thank you for sharing the story. I should of course have complimented your photo and not only throwing my own into your blog. Now thought of that probably wasn’t a nice thing … and that’s why I’ve replied here. I got carried away that I actually had a picture of my own of the same subject as yours counting I’m not living over there
January 27, 2011 at 8:31 am
Anki – Thanks for the compliments, and thanks for sharing your photo!
January 28, 2011 at 8:12 am