Flamingos & Freezing Waters: Surviving Winter
For most animals, having their legs locked into a frozen body of water is a definite death sentence. For flamingos, it might just mean a bit of boredom.
Flamingos are immensely adaptable creatures capable of more than the average human imagines. They can and do live in a range of climates, and they can withstand some truly nasty stuff.
Some flamingos - namely Chilean, Andean, and James’s flamingos - make their homes in high altitudes where snow and freezing temperatures are familiar. The birds are equipped with feathers that can keep them warm and plenty of strategies to maintain enough body heat. But even the best natural coat can’t free a flamingo from a frozen lake.
The Impact of Freezing Waters on Flamingos
It is possible for flamingos to experience the body of water they’re wading through freezing around them, trapping their legs in place. This is obviously a dangerous situation for the birds. But the dangers aren’t exactly what you might think.
Frozen in France
Southern France is one of many international hotbeds for flamingos. Generally, the area’s fabulous fowls head for warmer waters in North Africa during the winter, but some of them choose to stay back. Normally, that’s not too much of an issue. But in 2012, very harsh winters turned deadly for many of the remainers.
Researchers accessed 30 bodies of the flamingos that died in the region’s 2012 cold spell. They wanted to see what exactly did these birds in.
Temperatures in southern France in January 2012 hit as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The waters that the local flamingos relied on for food solidified to ice. This meant no food for the birds.
Did you know your Louisville Zoo has one of the largest flocks or “flamboyance” of flamingos in North America?
— Louisville Zoo (@LouisvilleZoo) January 13, 2025
Chilean flamingos live in one of the harshest areas on earth and can tolerate colder temperatures.
📸James McKinney pic.twitter.com/38TQ7f760b
It wasn’t just that but the timing of the freeze. Flamingos can go some time without eating - migration would be much more difficult if flamingos had to regularly swoop down for meals. But January is dead in the thick of it when the birds’ fat and protein stores are at their lowest. Those flamingos simply could not withstand the lack of food any longer.
What didn’t happen, though, was a frozen death. None of the dissected flamingos showed signs of freezing to death. Rather, it was all lack of food access that ended their lives. Bare in mind, too, that these were not Chilean, Andean, or James’s flamingos - greater flamingos are the species that hang out in France and the Mediterranean, and they are less used to such situations.
Trapped in Ice
It can happen that flamingos find themselves stuck in a body of water that’s icing over. It is unlikely that direct exposure to cold is what will kill them if they are unable to escape the ice quickly enough. Like the greater flamingos in France in 2012, the impossibility of eating while in that position is the more probable culprit.
But they can, and do, escape, especially the species of flamingo that are exposed to these sorts of situations with some regularity. In the BBC’s 2021 documentary, “Eden: Untamed Planet,” an example of what happens when flamingos are frozen in water is shown.
In the clip, it shows how adults can use their strength and know-how to force themselves up out of the ice, flying away to somewhere more friendly and avoiding potential disaster. Sure, the freezing couldn’t have been pleasant, but as long as they have enough energy stored within to get through however long it takes to get out, the birds are fine.
It gets tougher for chicks. They don’t have the same bodies as their grown-up counterparts, nor the same resilience. And if flamingos find themselves frozen into a body of salt water, it can become even more complicated, especially for a chick - that salt will calcify on their feathers and legs, adding additional weight they must carry. But as the clip shows, even flamingo chicks can deal with being rooted in place for a bit, assuming they get out before it’s too late.
Migration
Like your grandparents, flamingos can live in the cold - they just generally prefer not to. It poses problems that they would like to avoid, like the possibility of being frozen in a lake and starving to death as a result, and like all living things, flamingos would rather not have to struggle mightily for their food and survival.
So, like your grandparents, many flamingos migrate to warmer climates in the winter, then return home post-thaw. Not doing so can have dire consequences, like it did for dozens of birds in southern France in 2012. But it can also be fine if the weather cooperates and the flamingos are hardy enough. Most fabulous fowls would rather not find out.
