Editing Flamingo (section)

===Feeding===
[[File:Caribbean Flamingo vocalization.webm|thumb|right|American flamingos vocalizing at the [[Stone Zoo]] in [[Stoneham, Massachusetts|Stoneham]], [[Massachusetts]], US]]

Flamingos are omnivores who [[Filter feeder|filter-feed]] on [[brine shrimp]], [[cyanobacteria]], [[Larva|larvae]], [[Insect|insects]], [[Mollusca|mollusks]] and [[Crustacean|crustaceans]]. Their bills are adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food is assisted by hairy structures called [[Lamella (surface anatomy)|lamellae]], which line the [[mandible]], and their large, rough tongue. By rapidly retracting their head, flamingos generate vortexes that stir up sediment and shrimp. Flamingos further induce directional flows by chattering their beaks, while their stomping creates [[Eddy (fluid dynamics)|eddies]] to trap invertebrates.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ortega-Jimenez |first=Victor M. |last2=Yee |first2=Tien |last3=Rohilla |first3=Pankaj |last4=Seleb |first4=Benjamin |last5=Belair |first5=Jake |last6=Bhamla |first6=Saad |date=2025-05-27 |title=Flamingos use their L-shaped beak and morphing feet to induce vortical traps for prey capture |url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2503495122 |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=122 |issue=21 |pages=e2503495122 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2503495122|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Brumfiel |first=Geoff |date=16 May 2025 |title=Scientists Have Figured Out Why Flamingos Are Such Weird Eaters |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/05/16/nx-s1-5396865/flamingo-weird-eater-tiny-tornado-fluid-dynamics |access-date=2025-05-16 |work=[[NPR]] |language=en}}</ref>

The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from [[carotenoids]] in their diet of animal and plant [[plankton]]. American flamingos are a brighter red color because of the beta carotene availability in their food while the lesser flamingos are a paler pink due to ingesting a smaller amount of this pigment. These carotenoids are broken down into pigments by liver enzymes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=G. E. |last2=Montgomerie |first2=R. |last3=Inouye |first3=C. Y. |last4=Dale |first4=J. |s2cid=87349325 |title=Influence of Dietary Carotenoids on Plasma and Plumage Colour in the House Finch: Intra- and Intersexual Variation |date=June 1994 |journal=Functional Ecology |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=343–350 |doi=10.2307/2389827 |jstor=2389827|bibcode=1994FuEco...8..343H }}</ref> The source of this varies by species, and affects the color saturation. Flamingos whose sole diet is blue-green algae are darker than those that get it second-hand by eating animals that have digested blue-green algae.<ref>{{cite web |title=NATURE: Fire Bird – Flamingo Facts |publisher=Pbs.org |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/firebird/html/facts.html |access-date=2013-03-30}}</ref>

Though flamingos prefer to drink freshwater, they are equipped with glands under their eyes that remove extra salt from their bodies. This organ allows them to drink saltwater as well.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Caroline |title=Flamingo |publisher=Morrow Junior Books |others=Illustrated by Richard Hewett |year=1991 |isbn=9780688094119 |pages=11, 13}}</ref>