Long Necks

Flamingo

When you see me floating

On the water in my bright pink

Are you thanking God

He made me not to sink.

  Flamingo Beauty

Isn’t it wonderful the way God made these tall sociable birds.  There are thousands of birds in one colony of flamingos.  At certain seasons they divide into groups of 15-20 adults and have ceremony displays where they nod their heads up and down and flap their wings and find their mate if they do not already have one. The father and mother stay together and keep their mates always. Mom and Dad both build the nest and take care of the eggs and when the baby hatches they take turns feeding him.  After the baby is big enough to fend for itself all the babies get together in one place and stick together for safety sake.  They often stand on one foot.  They feast on blue green algae.  The color can be lighter according to the kind and where it lives and what it eats.  They live in Africa and South America and the Caribbean. 

  “Our next visit is to a bird of quite a different size and character, which is found on the borders of the rivers and lakes in Africa and parts of Asia. You would hardly think, would you, that that tall hillock of sand could be a nest? But if you examine the top of it, you'll find a hollow with two eggs inside as large as goose eggs. 

We may be sure that the mother will not be long absent; but if you have been to the Zoological Gardens in London, you have already seen the kind of bird to which this strange nest belongs. For you have surely noticed the beautiful rose-colored flamingoes, whose long legs and necks make them as tall as tall men. 

When these bright-colored birds are standing still on the green margin of some stream, they look almost like large, brilliant tropical flowers growing on tall, slender stalks. When they fly, the black quills of their wings are seen, in contrast with the flaming red feathers from which they get their name. As they always go in companies, and form themselves into "a fiery triangle" when they fly, they are a very remarkable sight. 

Now that you have seen the mother bird, you will understand why the nest is built so high. It is so that the long-legged bird can sit on it without difficulty, when hatching the eggs.” 

May 10, 1900 EJW, PTUK 299