Flamingos feed by sucking in tiny crustaceans and insects through their bills, which they turn upside down in the water. They use a pumping action of the tongue to sieve the muddy water. The order Gruiformes is a complex group made up of 190 species in 12 separate families, ranging from cranes to rails and coots. The common link between these various families is that they mostly live on the ground in wet habitats. Most nest on the ground or make floating nests among water plants.
Cranes are long-legged long necked wading birds, usually with white or gray plumage.
The males are usually larger than the females, and each pair makes a nest either on floating vegetation or on the ground. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching, and remain with their parents for 2-4 months. The gray crowned crane Balearica regulorum is found in southeastern Africa, from Uganda and Kenya down to South Africa. It lives in marshland, feeding on frogs, toads and insects as well as plant matter. Each pair of birds display to one another with a leaping dance as you can see in the illustration on this page.