It is perhaps fair to say that the flamingo is a lot harder than we tend to give it credit. Not only is it quite a cool bird to look at, but the extremes that they can withstand go above and beyond what the majority of birds are able to cope with.
As an example, the flamingo is able to still go to sleep even when the water around its legs has frozen solid. At the same time, they are able to go ahead and drink boiling water without it causing any problems. Furthermore, they can also survive in conditions where they are being exposed to gases that are poisonous to them.
Of course all of this is pretty amazing and there you thought that the flamingo was pretty pointless. It is actually one of the hardiest animals of its kind out there. So, perhaps cut it some slack as it is doing a lot better than you could ever hope to do.