Peter Schorsch
Throughout Wednesday, as residents awoke to either a waning storm or to an approaching one — depending on where they were in the state — photos began to circulate on social media of flamingo sightings.
For the uninitiated, that may seem to be a no big deal sort of thing. After all, the flamingo is to Florida what the grizzly is to Alaska — very state-specific and iconic. There’s a new giant hot pink flamingo statue in Tampa International Airport, greeting passengers as they come and go from the Sunshine State. People wear flamingos on their clothing all the time as an acknowledgement of the beachy paradise we call home.
Hell, the flamingo is even the mascot for our state lottery.
But alas, flamingos are actually quite rare to find in the wild in Florida.
Think about it, beyond your festive board shorts, a kitschy tumbler or a sighting at the zoo, when is the last time you saw a flamingo in Florida?
For most, the answer is probably either never, it’s been a while, or, in the event it was recent, it was probably a one-off.
The Fort Myers News-Press looked into the sudden pink bird sightings to figure out what the heck is going on.
As the photos circulated on the socials, people speculated that they came to Florida with the storm. And they’re right.
“There’s traffic in the Yucatan in that area, and they may have been traveling from the Yucatan to Cuba. And with the storm they got pushed north as they storm grew. I really think that’s what happened,” Audubon researcher Jerry Lorenz told the News-Press.
Put simply, he believes they flew in with the storm, popping up on beaches near Sanibel Island, Punta Gorda, Charlotte Harbor and Clearwater. Even Alachua County had a sighting.
Flamingos are native to Florida, Lorenz told the News-Press, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has said the bird should be listed as endangered. Now-a-days sightings are more of a one-off than the norm, with occasional flamingo cameos in parts of Everglades National Park.
Now the question remains: Will the birds stay, or is this just another Florida vacation?
Tallahassee might offer a clue. There, a semi-famous flamingo dubbed “Pinky” flew into the capital city with Hurricane Michael in 2018. Pinky is still hanging out in Tally.
