Unlike modern flamingos and the contemporary Phoenicopterus novaehollandiae, it was likely less well adapted for swimming and deep water wading.

The third trochlea is also more robust and wider than in extant flamingos and is more similar to the massiveness observed in the Palaelodidae, the sister family to the Phoenicopteridae.

Both in breadth and depth the foot of Phoeniconotius exceeds that of the largest male greater flamingo sampled by the paper.

This could suggest that Phoeniconotius was a rather large member of its family, however due to the absence of the shaft of the tarsometatarsus nothing precise can be said about its limb proportions.

[1] Unlike the contemporary Phoenicopterus novaehollandiae, Phoeniconotius appears to differ somewhat from the lifestyle of modern flamingos.