[3] The name flamingo comes from Portuguese or Spanish flamengo 'flame-colored'; in turn, the word comes from Provençal flamenc – a combination of flama 'flame' and a Germanic-like suffix -ing.

The family Phoenicopteridae was introduced by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1831, with Phoenicopterus as the type genus.

[5][6] Traditionally, the long-legged Ciconiiformes, probably a paraphyletic assemblage, have been considered the flamingos' closest relatives and the family was included in the order.

[7] Relationships to the waterfowl were considered as well,[8] especially as flamingos are parasitized by feather lice of the genus Anaticola, which are otherwise exclusively found on ducks and geese.

[17] For the grebe-flamingo clade, the taxon Mirandornithes ("miraculous birds" due to their extreme divergence and apomorphies) has been proposed.

[17] The cladogram below showing the phylogenetic relationships between the six extant flamingo species is based on a study by Roberto Frias-Soler and collaborators that was published in 2022.

One theory is that standing on one leg allows the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water.

[36] Young flamingos hatch with grayish-red plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta-carotene obtained from their food supply.

Captive flamingos are a notable exception; even if adequately nourished, they may turn a pale pink if they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild.

The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae, which line the mandibles, and the large, rough-surfaced tongue.

[41] Though flamingos prefer to drink freshwater, they are equipped with glands under their eyes that remove extra salt from their bodies.

[42] Flamingos are considered very noisy birds with their noises and vocalizations ranging from grunting or growling to nasal honking.

Vocalizations play an important role in parent-chick recognition, ritualized displays, and keeping large flocks together.

These large colonies are believed to serve three purposes for the flamingos: avoiding predators, maximizing food intake, and using scarce suitable nesting sites more efficiently.

[46] The members of a group stand together and display to each other by stretching their necks upwards, then uttering calls while head-flagging, and then flapping their wings.

The three flamingo recipes in the De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking) involve the whole creature: Suetonius mentions flamingo tongues in his Life of Vitellius:[62] Most notorious of all was the dinner given by his brother to celebrate the emperor's arrival in Rome, at which two thousand of the choicest fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been served.

In this he mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes and the milt of lampreys, brought by his captains and triremes from the whole empire, from Parthia to the Spanish strait.Martial, the poet, devoted an ironic epigram, alluding to flamingo tongues: Latin: Dat mihi penna rubens nomen; sed lingua gulosisNostra sapit: quid, si garrula lingua foret?

He served to the palace-attendants, moreover, huge platters heaped up with the viscera of mullets, and flamingo-brains, partridge-eggs, thrush-brains, and the heads of parrots, pheasants, and peacocks.