06/09/2023
It’s amazing to continue to see these flamingos on the beaches of Florida’s West Coast, following Hurricane Idalia.
This is from Treasure Island captured by Captain Vinnie's Boat Tours.
It’s believed that all of these flamingos are from Mexico or islands in the Caribbean! Some experts believe that the birds are from the Yucatan, that they were traveling from Mexico to Cuba, and that Idalia simply blew them off course.
No one knows exactly how many of the great omnivores are in Florida right now, but some ornithologists have speculated on social media that there may be as many as 70 of the pink-and-gray birds that were blown off course.
An American flamingo hangs out with a flock of American white pelicans in the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in the 10,000 Islands on Friday, Jan.14, 2022. Dozens of flamingos were reported across the west coast of Florida Wednesday as Hurricane Idalia passed to the north.
This isn’t the first time flamingos or other exotic birds have been blown to Florida during a hurricane or tropical storm. Many flew in with Hurricane Michael in 2018 and have not left. No one’s really sure how they’d get home, or where home even is located.
