How Do Flamingos Make Babies?
A new baby flamingo is born—but how do adult flamingos mate? Here is what science has to say about how flamingos reproduce.
When flamingos are about six years old, they are ready to start mating. They will pair off and then engage in a variety of courtship rituals to find their mate. Females make a selection. So, if a male has impressed a female, she will decide to pair up with him. If not, then a fellow flamingo has to continue looking for another lady flamingo. But, there is more.
Flamingo Breeding Season
Flamingos are highly social animals that live in flocks or colonies numbering in the tens of thousands. When mating season begins, the entire colony takes part. As a result, many of the colony’s chicks hatch around the same time. Another fascinating fact is that flamingos help one another care for their offspring.
Flamingos will usually mate when it rains. Why? Well, the rain helps flamingos to have necessary items for building nests. It also means there will be more food supply.
Flamingo Mating Dance
To attract a partner, male and female flamingos both participate in group dances. The mating ritual involves marching, preening, head turning and it begins with the ‘head-flag.’ Meaning males extend their heads and wave them back and forth. Then they spread their wings to display their black feathers. This move is called the ‘wing-salute.’ They also angle their heads downwards and their tails upward, so their black feathers point up to the sky.
But, the dancing rituals are not enough. Nope, males also apply makeup around breeding time to attract mates (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-010-1068-z).
Flamingos have glands near their tails that produce oil, which they spread onto their wings with their beaks. This preen oil is rich in carotenoids, and flamingos apply it during the mating season. Once they stop applying this natural “makeup,” soon after their chicks hatch, the bright color of their wings begins to fade.
Other dance moves include the “twist-preen,” in which males twist their heads beneath a wing; the “wing-leg stretch,” in which they extend a leg and wing on one side of the body; and marching, a quick, synchronized step performed by clustered, upright males.
After some preening, males run together with their beaks pointed upward and their long, beautiful necks extended. The females then initiate copulation. All this happens in the water. When a female selects a male, she stops walking, lowers her head, spreads her wings, and invites her chosen mate to mount her from behind. The male jumps onto her back to mate and transfers sperm from his cloaca to hers.
(cloaca is waste and reproductive orifice)
Nesting Time
Flamingos are generally monogamous, and they stay faithful to their partners until the baby is born, at least. The male and female bird will mate periodically, and during that time, both flamingo parents get busy creating nests on the ground. The preparation starts during, or as soon as mating is over, which is about six weeks before an egg is laid. Females usually lay only one egg.
To build a nest, the parents collect different kinds of material and push it into a selected spot with their feet. When complete, these nests look like small volcanoes and stand about 12 inches high. They may contain stones, mud, sticks, and feathers. Once the nest is ready, the female lays an egg.
It will take from 27 to 31 days for the offspring to be born. The parents take turns incubating and protecting the egg, occasionally lifting and turning the egg with their beaks.
What is flamingo egg size? The egg is roughly 9 centimeters long and 5 centimeters in diameter.
Common Baby Flamingo Hatching
It takes between 24 to 36 hours for flamingo chicks to hatch. Their legs are pink, thick and swollen. The swelling goes down within 48 hours. For five to twelve weeks chicks live in the nest, although some may walk short distances during that time.
After 12 days, they join the rest of the flock in so-called nurseries. Although the little nestlings may all look alike to us, parent flamingos recognize their own chicks. Parents can identify their chick’s call even after it has joined the nursery, and they feed only their own young.
Before even leaving the nest, and quite early, within four to six weeks, since they hatched, chicken learns to swim and filter-feed.
How Do Baby Flamingos Turn Pink?
When chicks are born, both parents take a constant care of their baby and parents do not leave the nest for about a week. Here parents feed their baby with a red crop ‘milk.’ Both parents can product the ‘milk’ from their upper digestive system. This milk is rich in fats and protein. It also contains traces of the parents blood.
When the baby is strong enough, the parents and the baby will join the colony and a group of adults will care for the little one. Next, the adults within the group will tich new babies how to swim and how to hunt food.
At birth, baby flamingos look like small, fluffy cotton balls and are either white or gray. They become pink much later, perhaps at about three years old. Their color comes from pigments found in the algae and invertebrates they eat.
FAQ
Are flamingo eggs pink? No, they are white oval shaped eggs. What are baby flamingos called? Baby flamingos are called Flaminglet. How many babies do flamingos have at a time? One.