Flamingos use their bills for filtering water.
Their upper and lower jaws have ridged edges that serve as a filter.
The bill is bent at an angle in the middle.
They use these special beaks to extract food from the water, by filtering the food particles from sand and water.
The beak has cartilage filters in forms of lamellae, together with a rough tongue that performs the actual food and silt separation.
Flamingos have long slender legs that allow them to wade into deeper water than other birds. Their webbed feet help them walk on the soft mud. If the water is too deep for them to wade, they are able to swim on the surface as they feed.
The swimming is also aided by their webbed feet. When swimming, they can often be seen as dense groups, floating together on the surface of the water.
Flamingos have lungs for breathing, and so they have to hold their breath while feeding under water.
When the flamingos are resting, they sit and tuck their legs beneath them or stand on one leg. While they are standing on one leg, they can be seen swaying back and forth in the wind.
It has been established that flamingos frequently stand on one leg so that they conserve body heat since most of the time they wade in cold waters.
It has also been reported that flamingos are able to rest half of their body while the other half is active. After some time, they swap their legs and let the other half rest.
Flamingos have also been seen stamping on the mud in order to stir food from the bottom of the water.