Flamingos really are pretty, so pink, but they are slightly strange-looking, with their long necks and hooked beaks, nearly always bent double trying to find the prawns and shrimps which keep them so pretty and pink. There are six different species in the world, four in the Americas and two in Africa,Europe and Africa. They live in massive colonies of thousands of birds – how amazing that must be, what a sight! Strangely enough, flamingos feed their chicks on a sort of milk, produced from glands in their crops; once the chicks are old enough to leave the nest they move into little nursery groups and then into large creches. Flamingos can live to be quite old – one died in captivity which was over eighty!
Many people in Britain would hear the word ‘flamingo’ and immediately think of the song ‘Pretty Flamingo’ and most people would think of the band Manfred Mann who had a hit with it in 1966. It was written by an American writer, Mark Barkan and recorded by many other people including lovely Gene Pitney. However, most of us think of Paul Jones singing it on Top of the Pops, standing on one leg, as the rest of Manfred man played!
Lois Elsden 