Looking like a real flamingo.
Out of all of the flamingo flocks to breed this year at WWT Slimbridge, the Caribbeans have certainly done the best and a swathe of new chicks graces the pink-filled enclosure opposite the Centre's restaurant. The chicks have now all changed into their juvenile plumage of grey-brown with "dirty coloured" beaks and legs. It will be a few years from now before they resemble the immaculate crimson red plumage of their parents but at least, now they have grown into their shape, that they look like what a flamingo should! They have also learnt to use their intricately designed bills correctly and now filter-feed their dinner in the same precise way as the adult birds.
I have mentioned a few times before how juvenile flamingos separate themselves away from the rest of the adult flock, and can often be seen on the peripheries of the whole group. The photo of the Caribbean flamingo group again shows this at Slimbridge; the line of younger birds is on the edges of the flock. They have not been "shoved out" or ostracised but simply they have, currently, no place in the heart of the flock but when they grow into their feathers and change colour, they will reintegrate to take their respective places amongst the rest of the adult birds. Watch out for their change in colour and behaviour on your subsequent visits to the Trust.
