Flamingo

Flamingo (pronounced fluh-ming-goh)

(1) Any of several aquatic birds of the family Phoenicopteridae (order Ciconiiformes), having very long legs and neck, webbed feet, a bill bent downward at the tip and pinkish to scarlet plumage; they tend to inhabit brackish lakes.

(2) In the color spectrum, a shade of reddish-orange but in commercial use, usually a bright pink.

1555–1565: From the Portuguese flamengo, from the Old Occitan (Old Provençal) flamenc, (flame colored) from the Latin flamma (flame) to which was appended the Germanic suffix –enc (ing) denoting descent from or membership of.  Both the Portuguese flamengo (related to chama & flama) and the Spanish flamengo translate literally as "flame-colored" (the Greek phoinikopteros (flamingo) is literally translated as “red feathered").  Of the Belgium region, Fleming (from the Spanish flamenco) appears originally to have been a jocular name, coined because of the conventional Romance image of the Flemish as ruddy-complexioned.  The collective noun for the birds is a flamboyance of flamingos.

Lindsay Lohan with yoga mat in flamingo pink tracksuit in Dubai.  The term "flamingo pink" is often a bit opportunistic given the coloring of the birds varies so widely depending on their diet, many often more of an orange hue than red or pink.  Most manufacturers seem to position "flamingo pink" as a shade somewhat toned-down from "hot-pink" or fuchsia.  

Flamingos are omnivores, filter-feeding on brine shrimp and blue-green algae as well as larva, small insects, mollusks and crustaceans, their vivid pink or reddish feathers a product of the beta-carotenoids of this diet.  The birds usually stand on one leg with the other tucked beneath and why they do this is not understood.  One theory is that standing on one leg allows them to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water, but the behavior is also observed in warm water and among birds ashore.  The alternative theory is that standing on one leg reduces the energy required for the muscular effort to stand and balance and flamingos demonstrate substantially less body sway in a one-legged posture.

Perhaps the world's only black flamingo.

In 2015, during a routine "flamingo count",  a black flamingo was observed on the salt lake at the Akrotiri Environmental Centre on the southern coast of Cyprus, zoologists noting it may not merely be rare but perhaps the only one in existence and it's assumed to be the same bird seen in Israel in 2014.  Greater Flamingo flocks are known regularly to fly long distances.  The black feathers are a result of melanism, a genetic condition in which the pigment melanin is over-produced, turning the plumes black during development.  The opposite of melanism is albinism, when no melanin is made and the animal is colorless except for a faint hue (from red blood vessels) in the eyes.  There are many intermediate stages between melanism & albinism where various pigments partially are missing, resulting the patchy coloration known as leucism but albino and leucistic (partial albino) birds are not uncommon, unlike the genuine rarity of the melanistic flamingo.  Why flamingos are so rarely affected while black owls, woodpeckers, herons and many others often observed isn't known but the condition appears to be most common in a some species of hawk species, jaegers and some seabirds.  Pedants noted the much-travelled black flamingo actually had a few white tail feathers but the zoologists said they were too few for it not to be regarded as melanistic.

The Flamingo Pose

Among humans, the reason for the flamingo pose is well understood: instagram.  It’s in the tradition of earlier duck face, fish gape pose, t. rex selfie hand, bambi pose, ear scratch and migraine pose.  Technically sometimes challenging if attempted while standing, models suggest using a wall or handrail for balance if the photo session is at all protracted.  A better alternative can be to pose while sitting, one leg extended, the other bent or tucked away in some becoming manner.

The flamingo pose, perfected by Gigi Hadid (b 1995).  Note the hand braced against the wall, a technique borrowed from structural engineering which lowers the centre of gravity, improving stability.