When flamingos are born, they have gray, white, or some combination of the two colors. They are not born with the pink color that they are known for. It takes several years for flamingos to acquire their signature pink color, and the change is gradual. Flamingos get their pink color from the food they eat, which is rich in carotenoids, a red-orange pigment found in algae, brine fly larvae, and brine shrimp. The carotenoids are absorbed by fats in the liver and deposited in the feathers and skin, giving the flamingos their pink color. When flamingo chicks hatch, they have white-gray, downy feathers and straight bills. The crop milk produced by adult flamingos is a highly nutritious bright pink secretion made in the adults throat, and it is so densely packed with carotenoids that when breeding season is over, both male and female parents often appear white, losing the pink coloration from their feathers.