Well, I am feeling better but still pretty drained from yesterday’s ordeal so hopefully this post will make sense. Thank you for your patience and well wishes!

Today’s Wild Fact will be for the birds and more specifically the pink birds.  What was the first pink bird that popped into your head? Probably the Flamingo, which I think would have been the case even if you hadn’t read the title or looked at the picture.  Just so you know, flamingo’s that are a more vibrant pink are generally healthier.  This helps with mate selection since you want a healthy mate.  So besides being a big pink bird, what is so darn interesting about the flamingo? Well, clearly the next most obvious feature of the flamingo! Of course I am talking about the legs.

While feeding the flamingo will usually stand on one leg with their head submerged in the water looking for food.  Nobody knows for sure the reason for this but I figured I would let you in on a few ideas.  The first theory is the flamingo is able to allow one side of the body go to sleep and when that side of the body is fully rested then it will switch legs.  This could make sense and would allow the flamingo additional time to forage. The second idea is the fact that standing on one leg will allow the flamingo to conserve heat.  I like this idea since our beloved pink bird spends the majority of time in very cold water looking for food.  As usual, I will award 5 Bonus Wild Fact Points for any possible benefits that could be obtained from standing on one leg.

Flamingo Fast Fact: The flamingo parents will lose their pink colouring while raising the chicks if they continue to feed during the moulting season.

Have a great day everyone!