Flamingo Grove A flock of pink flamingos make their home in the Barnes Place Gardens. Recent improvements to the gardens included the construction of the Pink Flamingo Habitat. This particular flock of flamingos was captured on a recent safari to the Paper Palace, a party supply store. In the Spring of '99, a severe storm took out 20% of the flock. The community came together, and work has been started to help rebuild the flock. Today, we have baby flamingos. In the Winter of 2000, a line of Flamingo Fashions was launched to help protect the flamingos from the elements. Cycle of Life Begins Again with Flamingo Birth Flock Population on the Rebound after Severe Storms Many Breakthroughs in Lawn Ornament Research I don't have time to read this crap. Take me right to the photos. BARNES PLACE, ATLANTA, GA--It is with great pleasure that Barnes Place announces the birth of a baby flamingo on Saturday, June 12. The birth marks the successful beginning of an effort to rebuild the flamingo population in Flamingo Grove, a lawn ornament habitat created at Barnes Place. Over twenty percent of the population was wiped out by severe thunderstorms last May when an out-of-control inflatable chair smashed into the flock. The tragedy, occurring only days before the Barbie-Que, was a reminder to many just how precious life is. Many in the community came together to mourn this great loss. Jennifer and Nelson, who live in the Barnes Place neighborhood, Home Park, presented Barnes Place with two flamingo eggs. Flamingos incubate their eggs for a period of thirty days, with both the male and female swapping shifts sitting on a single egg. Since these two eggs were not the product of the flock, there was some question as to whether or not the flock of lawn ornaments would accept the plastic toy eggs as their own. Researchers swarmed to Barnes Place like a flock of lawn flamingos. Fancy Nancy and Chief Big Burn, Coos Bay, Oregon, provided a grant to study the incubation period of the flamingo eggs. The study provided positive results: an Airborne Express delivery man commented that he felt the flock had taken a liking to the eggs, and certainly took them under their wing, so to speak. This is the first in-depth study of lawn ornaments reproducing in captivity, and Barnes Place is proud to have received the grant. Much information has been gathered on the flock in the past few weeks. In fact, preliminary reports indicated that Atlanta's winters may be too harsh for the flamingos. "It is possible," says a study published on the back of a cocktail napkin, "the flamingos might have lived through the catastrophic thunderstorm if they had not been worn down from the winter months." The report concluded that if there was some way to keep them warm during the winter months, the flock could have been stronger, and more might have survived. However, the cocktail napkin is considered inconclusive to some, and further study is warranted. At the first sign of one of the eggs cracking, researchers and Georgia Tech students were summoned. They left their bongs in the parking lot of the apartment building next door and rushed to the scene. Because of their quick response, the entire flamingo hatching was captured on film--the first lawn ornament hatching ever recorded. "The tranquility of the beauty of it all is really quite irreverent," said Director of Ambiance and Entertainment for Barnes Place Timothy State. "We hope to take that beauty and transpose it into an event. A festival of sorts. We can have a Festival of the Flamingo. With a Flamingo Court and a Flamingo Queen. We'll even have Flamingo Dancers. I've always wanted to do a party with Flamingo Dancers." "Do you think you can serve flamingo at a Flamingo Festival?" Asks Director of Catering and Guest Relations for Barnes Place Tony Dornacher. "I guess you could. They serve corn at corn festivals." "In fact, we'll call the festival, 'Flamingo Rising'," adds State, "spinning from the Phoenix rising from the ashes symbolizing a re-birth." Atlanta has been compared to the Phoenix rising, because of the number of times it has had to reinvent itself. "We'll serve Flamingo-on-a-Stick. And we can have Flamingo carvings--out of SPAM." The Bitter-Sweet Cycle of Life Unfolds at Flamingo Grove These are the first-ever soon-to-be award-winning photos of a lawn ornament birth.

		Barnes Place was presented with two flamingo eggs shortly after the storm that wiped out more than 20% of the flock. The eggs were the generous gift of Jennifer and Nelson, Atlanta, Georgia, and were presented at the Barbie-Que.
		The incubation period for the flamingo is 30 days. During that time, both the male and female take turns sitting on the egg. The remaining flock took the two eggs under their wing, so to speak. You can see the one egg has begun to crack open.
		Here, a flamingo assists the baby flamingo to push out of the shell.
		The miracle of life: the baby flamingo has pushed its way out of the egg shell, right at the feet of the flock.
		The baby flamingo is a bit disoriented. Welcome to Barnes Place and Flamingo Grove--your new artificial habitat!
		After pushing through the egg shell, the baby chick is too tired to sit up by itself. An adult flamingo moves in...
		...nudging the baby gently.
		After a few minutes of rest, he finally has the energy to sit up.
		The cycle of life continues on at Barnes Place and Flamingo Grove.

Now that I've seen the photos, I'd like to be enlightened. Take me to the story. Continue through the Jungle. Our tremendous thanks to Fancy Nancy and Chief Big Burn, Coos Bay, Oregon, for providing assistance with pre-natal car.