In Galapagos, flamingos have a varied diet of crustaceans, molluscs, worms, insects, plant material, algae and seeds. All flamingos have evolved an impressive way of feeding. First, they shuffle their feet to disturb the ground, bringing up material that could potentially be food. They then walk along with their bills inverted and their heads upside-down underwater. Their tongue acts as a piston, drawing in water which then leaves via the sides of the mouth. Within the bill are a series of filtering plates that strain water from mud and dirt. 

In order to mate, American flamingo colonies need shallow waters to perform synchronised courtship dances. Successful flamingos then nest and each female will lay a single egg. The nests are cone-shaped with a height of 20-25 centimetres, and the egg is incubated by both parents for 30 days. Once the chick is born they leave their nest almost immediately and join a crèche of other chicks where roughly three adult birds will be on guard. The chicks are actually born a grey colour, with a straight bill that takes three weeks to begin to curve, and after 65-90 days they are able to fly. Flamingos are among a select few birds that feed their young directly from a secretion produced in their crop (throat), and even this ‘crop milk’ is bright pink from the carotenoid. So much carotenoid is taken up during rearing by their eggs and crop milk that by the end of a breeding season parents of both sexes have lost the pink colouring from their feathers and appear almost white.