Flamingos make their homes in great colonies on lake shores, river mouths, or shallow ponds and marshy places, preferring water that is slightly salty. Nests are made by rolling mud (sometimes mixed with pebbles) into little balls with their beaks to a selected spot and tamping the balls in place until a nest rises anywhere from six inches to three feet above the water. It looks like a miniature mountain with a large crater on top to hold a single egg. In the hot sun this nest dries out almost as hard as cement, and that's all they do to it—not bothering to line it with soft material as most birds do.
There may be thousands of nests in one colony, each one looking identical, but every bird knows which is its own. Just one egg is laid each year in late winter or early spring, the mother and father flamingo sharing in incubating it for about a month and feeding the young bird for quite a while after it hatches.
The gray and fluffy chicks are covered with soft down; their bills at first are straight and legs are short, but these develop quickly. At two-and-a-half months they can fly and are nearly fully grown in a year's time. However, they do not turn pink until four years old. Then, with great displays of their pretty wings, necks, heads and legs, mates are chosen, and soon a new pair is building another nest and raising their own little one.
Shrimps are their favorite food. These, along with small crabs, help account for their brilliant red plumage. But they also eat great quantities of algae that float in the water, as well as plankton, insects and fish. In Kenya, where food is plentiful, it is not unusual to see these lovely birds feeding in groups of millions, turning a large water hole into a beautiful pink area in the otherwise dry desert. Tourists sometimes ride in airplanes to get the best view of them.
For many years these birds were cruelly killed for their beautiful feathers as well as for their very tasty meat. But we are glad that in most places they are now protected.
It is not difficult to think of the Creator's pleasure in creating such lovely birds, and He gives us the assurance in the Bible that He is good and kind to them, as expressed above.
And it is He who provides for our needs, too. But He has done more than that, as we read in Heb. 11:4040God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40), "God having provided some better thing for us." This promise is, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23). It is only through faith in the Lord Jesus that this wonderful gift can become ours. Have you accepted Him as your own Savior? Is the gift of eternal life yours?