My 12 year old will be trying to pipe a flamingo on her cake for 4H. Any tips or ideas on how to do this? It has to be with royal icing or it will not hold up in the heat. It will iced flat on the cake.
Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated!!!

I'd start by drawing a bunch of flamingos with pen and paper. When I'd gotten to where I could draw one with confidence, I'd follow up by filling up a piping bag with the material to be piped (or some cheaper substitute of about the same consistency), and piping a bunch of flamingos onto pan bottoms, foil, paper, bread, or whatever, until I felt confident enough that I could do so without touching the surface of the cake. Then, once I had the cake ready to decorate, and piping bags filled with all the colors needed, then I'd do one or two in full color on a practice surface, before doing it for real.

Or I'd do what I did for a line drawing of a rose, on the cake I baked for Mothers Day: have a coloring book picture handy, to copy from, and just concentrate on getting each individual line to curve in the right way, and intersect the other lines in the right way.

BTW:
Q: Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
A: If they pulled them both up, they'd fall down.