Flamingo Chick Hatches at Zoo Miami

For the first time in over ten years, Zoo Miami has hatched and raised a baby flamingo!

This bird was very lucky and wouldn’t be here if not for the keen observation from the Florida Everglades staff and the front office staff, who helped with egg sightings. The egg this flamingo hatched from was found in the water adjacent to its nest. Flamingos build tall nest mounds shaped like cones, with a small indent where the egg sits. This flock was recently moved to its new exhibit and sometimes, disagreements over nest sites and eggs can occur, resulting in some physical aggression. During these fights, the eggs often fall out of their nests. This is how our egg found its way into the water.

Keepers quickly got the egg to the Breeding Center, where the staff set the egg in an incubator. They weren’t holding out much hope since this was the 11th egg they had set this year with no luck in fertility. Sure enough, after six days, the keepers could start seeing the embryo develop! After 31 days (on September 25, 2019), the flamingo hatched inside the breeding center’s brooder box. The hatched egg shell was sent to a lab for DNA sexing and within a week, the lab informed us that we had a male flamingo chick.

This was the beginning of a lot of work for the breeding center staff and the zoo nutrition center. Zoo Miami’s nutritionist, Dr. Treiber, painstakingly put together a formula and a plan for the flamingo as it developed. The nutrition staff made all of the chick’s formula, helped with the transition to pellets, and made the whole process easy so that the breeding center could focus on the chick. Breeding center keepers had the awesome responsibility of feeding this flamingo using a gavage tube and a syringe. With a squirming flamingo, this was not the easiest job!

As they grow, flamingos are walked around all day by their parents to develop muscles and learn how to be a flamingo. So, breeding center keepers walked the flamingo many times a day to ensure the legs would develop properly. The flamingo chick follows the keepers close because he has imprinted on them. The breeding center was even adapted for this flamingo’s needs. One of our more construction-savvy keepers, Terry Casanova, constructed a 20’ x 4’ sand box for the little guy to walk and run around in.

After another few weeks, the breeding center had a lanky grey flamingo about two feet tall that was ready for his next adventure over in a holding pen in the zoo’s Florida: Mission Everglades! He will grow adult flight feathers that will remain gray for the first year before the caretenoids from his food will start to turn the feathers pink. For now, the little guy gets walked from his holding pen to the adult pen where he gets to spend some time learning the sounds and sights of a flock of flamingos. Very soon, he will be integrated into the flock so next time you are at the zoo, look out for the only grey flamingo in the flock. That’s him!

Caribbean flamingos are common in the wild but they are closely monitored by zoos and aquariums for genetics and breeding as part of a special program. This program, the Species Survival Plan (SSP), ensure the pairs that breed successfully are genetically diverse so that we can keep a sustainable population in Zoos. These programs are great conservation measures that make it possible for zoos to maintain populations without pulling birds from the wild.

Special Thanks to

Joshua Randle, Susanne Gigler, Susan Kong, Nicolle Mierisch, Dolora Batchelor, Caroline Kistler, and Ezequial Bugallo for the successful hand-raising and many walks you guys helped with.

by Matt McHale, Breeding/ Propogation Animal Care Coordinator