Often found in large groups, the flamingo gathers on shorelines of tropical lagoons and salt lakes where it can wade in the shallows on its long, stilt-like legs. Highly sociable, the flamingo s communal nature extends to caring for young. When a chick fledges, it joins a nursery supervised by a few adults, allowing the other parent birds to feed. Throughout its tropical and sub-tropical range, the flamingo breeds when food supplies are good and the water level is high enough to soften the shoreline mud from which it builds its nest. The height of the nest helps the leggy flamingo when incubating, as it can straddle the nest.
Pairs defend the nest with threat postures, but fights among neighbors are rare.
Several days before the chick hatches, it cheeps and the parents respond, learning to recognize each other s calls. Then, after the chick hatches, the parents, returning from a feeding trip, are able to find it quickly among the hundreds of other identical nests in the colony. Apart from the Caribbean where populations are hunted for food or sport, the flamingo is under little threat, partly because its harsh, remote habitat is not exploited by humans. The skin on its feet and legs can withstand burning effects of caustic soda found in alkaline lakes. It breeds in huge colonies, over a million individuals.