People often make the mistake for believing that the American Flamingo has backward knees, however, their knees are located/hidden under their wings. What the flamingo actually bends is their ankle, which is located where many assume the knee would be.
Weirdly enough, for Flamingos, standing on one leg is actually be easier than standing on two. Researchers' first idea for testing flamingos' balance was to give a little push to an unexpected Flamingo at the zoo. This was ultimately rejected, so they turned to study Flamingo corpses. They found that while a dead flamingo can't stand on two legs, it can still balance on one.
When the researchers began studying live flamingos by stalking them until they slept, they found that the Flamingos' balance became better as they fell asleep on one leg. That led researchers to realize that Flamingos' anatomy had evolved specifically to have a built-in "stay mechanism."
When the Flamingo is ready to sleep, it lifts one of their legs and instinctively adjusts its body so its foot isn't under its hip. (Makes me wonder if they have a preference of which leg.) It's then centered directly under the carriage of the bird. Meanwhile, pulling the other leg up forces the knee to bend - still hidden under their wing - which the Flamingo rests on. The Flamingo then can sleep without any worry as gravity does the rest, keeping them in place.
Though the researchers figured out this much, there is still the question of why they do stand and sleep one leg.
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