Excerpt:
When Keith Ramos heard a small flock of American flamingos had landed remaining fall on the character defend he oversees off Florida’s Atlantic coast, he rushed to get a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the gangly pink birds all through the wild…
“I ran over there, and naturally they have been gone,” stated Ramos, the supervisor of Merritt Island Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, the place a flamingo sighting had remaining been recorded in 1992. “I figured I missed my chance with out end.”
Nonetheless a month later, they have been noticed as quickly as further. Then a separate and higher flock was seen in shut by Mosquito Lagoon. The birds appeared to be appropriate at residence, preening their blush-colored feathers and grazing on shrimp close to a sandbar.
Truly, beforehand 9 months, flamingos have appeared all by Florida in areas the place they haven’t been seen in just a few years — sightings scientists hope mark the return of thought of certainly one of many state’s most celebrated symbols.
They’ve been photographed whereas taking a leisurely swim inside eyeshot of workplace buildings in Tampa Bay, hanging out with pelicans close to Sanibel Island and sharing a sandspit with good blue herons just some miles from Kennedy Residence Coronary coronary heart.
Researchers take into consideration the mannequin new arrivals blew in with Hurricane Idalia remaining August, nearly definitely from Mexico or the Bahamas, the place conservation efforts over the sooner 50 years have helped flamingo populations recuperate from close to extinction. It wasn’t the primary time a sturdy storm swept the birds to Florida. Nonetheless in most of these situations, the flamingos left after just a few days.
This time, they stayed…
