Patrick Helms, age , of Gulfport, Miss., for his question:
DOES THE FLAMINGO BUILD A NEST?
Flamingos build nests that are nothing more than mounds of mud. Most of the female flamingos lay a single egg in a shallow hole at the top of the nest. The parents then take turns sitting on the egg to keep it warm.
The egg hatches after about 30 days. Young flamingos leave the nest after about five days and form small groups. But the young return to their own nests regularly to feed on a fluid produced in the digestive system of the parents.
The parents dribble the fluid from their mouths into the youngster's bill. After about two weeks, the young form larger herds and then they start to find their own food.
Flamingos in the wild live in colonies, some of which have thousands of members. The birds mate once each year.
Flamingos are famous for their long, stilt like legs, curved necks and long bills. They can be found living wild in many parts of the world and spend almost all of their lives near lakes, marshes and seas. Most flamingos stand from 3 to 5 feet tall. The color of their feathers, except for a few black wing feathers, varies from bright red to pale pink.
Flamingos of the Caribbean area have coral red feathers and South American flamingos have pinkish white feathers.
Most flamingos eat shellfish and small water plants called algae. Hairlike "combs" along the edges of the bird's bill strain mud and sand from the food a flamingo finds in the water.
Flamingos, like ducks, have webbed feet.
In their wild, natural surroundings, flamingos live from between 15 and 20 years. In captivity, where they are always extremely popular, they often live even longer. They adjust well to living in zoos and animal parks.
Wild flamingos lived in southern Florida at one time. But people killed them for their beautiful feathers faster than they could reproduce.
Zoologists group flamingos into four species. The greater flamingo lives in Africa, southern Asia and Europe, southern South America and the West Indies. The lesser flamingo lives in the great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanganyika in Africa.
The two other species are the rare Andean and James' flamingo. They live near the highland lakes of the Andes Mountains in South America.
Flamingos fly in long skeins, with necks straight out in front and their feet trailing behind. They are quite vocal in flight, honking much of the time just like geese.