The flamingo has a unique bill, bent abruptly downwards in the middle. In feeding, the lower part is held immobile while the top side is held upside down, scooping up minute animals and vegetable matter from the water. This mixture is pumped out the sides of the beak, and food is sieved from the water by a fringed tongue. In the wild, flamingo food includes very small particles such as diatoms, algae, insect larvae, tiny mollusks and crustaceans, aquatic plants, and protozoans. Chilean flamingos are found in the Andes Mountains in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia.
Flamingos are gregarious, living and flying in large groups.
In flight, flamingos often vocalize, honking much like geese. Flamingos build nests from mud, creating large flattened cones up to 18 inches high and 30 inches in diameter. At the top of this cone is a shallow depression in which a single egg is laid. Both sexes incubate the egg and care for the young. Flamingo chicks can swim well and run fast within a week, and within three weeks are on their own.