About

A flamingo is a tall wading bird with mainly pink or scarlet plumage and long legs and neck. It has a heavy bent bill that is held upside down in the water in order to filter-feed on small organisms.

This majestic bird is a in the family Phoenicopteridae, the only bird family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. Four flamingo species are distributed throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean, and two species are native to Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Portuguese or Spanish flamengo, "flame-colored", in turn coming from Provencal flamenc from flama "flame" and Germanic-like suffix -ing, with a possible influence of words like "Fleming." A similar etymology has the Latinate Greek term phoenicopterus, literally "blood-red feathered."