Flamingo From Riverbanks Zoo

Flamingo from Riverbanks Zoo

We have seen famingos in the wild, in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.  They were beautiful and very pink.   Flamingos are pink because of the algae that they eat.  They put that huge bill into the water and filter out the micorscopic algae etc.  Some of that algae turns their feathers pink.  But the flamingos at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina are eating more algae than their wild relatives. . . so their feathers are kind of a cross between pink and a brilliant red-orange.   

I already though of flamingos as one of the most beautiful birds.   .    .  but when I saw the ones in the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo I was enchanted.  They are truly gorgeous.  I am including one of the photos I took so you can see what I mean.  Plus you can use the photo to color the drawing accurately if you choose to do so.  I also should mention that these have got to be the hardest bird to draw correctly.  There were a lot of flamingos at the zoo, but I chose to just draw one.  

Flamingo from Riverbanks Zoo, Columbia, South Carolina

(I took this photo last week when we went to this zoo.)

NOTE:  The printable versions of drawings are found by clicking on the buttons up top labled:

All Printables . . . . . or. . . . .Animals.

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