Flamingo chicks at Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023.Three baby flamingos have hatched at Tracy Aviary — and a couple more may be on the way.
These are the first flamingos born at the aviary since 2019, said Kate Lyngle-Cowand, the aviary’s curator of exhibit collections. Two more eggs were incubating in a back room, with projected hatch dates toward the end of August and mid-September, respectively, if they both hatch. Lyngle-Cowand said it’s normal that not every egg will hatch. It’s happened a few times this year. The important part is that three of them, so far, have.It’s good news after three mating seasons where the flamingos seemed uninterested in breeding. Lyngle-Cowand said that sometimes happens in the wild, but she wonders if the pandemic may have played a role. The birds had been breeding consistently in the years before.
The baby phase doesn’t last long, though. A chick’s beak will begin to curve after 30 days. It’ll reach adult size in six months. At two years, it will turn completely pink; as pink a Chilean flamingo can be, anyway. They’re typically a pale, nearly white, hue, with darker pink tail feathers, unlike their more brightly colored Caribbean cousins.“As the parents continue to feed the chicks, you’ll see the parents start to get a bit white...,” she said.