Bird World Site

Andean Flamingo

The beautiful flamingos have had a close relation with various human civilizations for long. They are long-legged waders from the Charadriiformes Order. Wading birds, or waders, stay near water and walk through the shallow regions in the search of food. Of the six identified species, two inhabit America. The others are found in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Southern Europe, Southern Asia, Africa, and the belt running from Africa to India. Flamingoes often fold one leg under their feathers and appear to be standing on one leg only. This is one of the most distinguishing qualities of these birds. Their feathers have pretty combinations of white, red, orange, pink, and shades of black. Not all the varieties have all the colors.

Steps for drawing a Flamingo: Often, the type of feathers becomes a guiding point for the artists, who choose to draw flamingoes. The following instructions are intentional to help you in the process:

• Model: Obtain a suitable picture on which your work will be based. As mentioned above, appearance is an important consideration. Apart from that, the activity in which you wish to capture your bird can have a bearing on the selected picture. The internet has a huge collection of flamingo images. You also look into offline resources, like books, periodicals, newspapers, etc.

• Basic structure: The skeletal frame of a flamingo is rather simple to create. The starting point should be to draw a free hand curve that looks like the letter ‘S,’ such that the lower portion extends long, slightly curved down. This will act as the central reference line from head to tail. Mark the head portion with a small circle near the upper curve. Make an oval for the central body, near the lower curve. Long, straight lines will depict legs.

• Structure formation: The upper tip of the curve until the head will represent the beak portion. Sketch the eyes a little off the beak. The head requires only a slight shaping up. The neck stretches from head to the central body. Add thickness on both the sides of the reference line. The central body will assume the shape of the outmost feathers. The legs are very thin with the joints appearing like small circles. The feet of a flamingo is webbed like many aquatic birds.

• Color and Shading: Though, there is no fixed rule, a color drawing is definitely preferable over a pencil work. Flamingoes ar bright, colorful birds. The right effect comes from careful shading and toning of colors. The Greater Flamingo has pink-white color combination on the outer side, while red and black on the inner side of the feathers. The Lesser Flamingoes are primarily pinkish in color, with dark inner plumes. The Chilean and James’ Flamingoes have a deeper pink tone with bright orange streaks. The Andean Flamingo is hot pink from neck upwards with black tail feathers. The American Flamingo is distinguished for its orange-red feathers.