![]() Such a large flock "appearing then disappearing makes it hard to argue they aren't coming here on their own," Whitfield says. More recently, in 2014, residents were shocked to see 147 of the bright pink birds in a remote area of Palm Beach County. For example, the scientists found a reference to four flamingo egg specimens from the 1880s, indicating the birds nested in the state at that time. In the study, published recently in The Condor: Ornithological Applications , the authors pored over historical and museum records that suggest flamingos are native to Florida. This flamingo has mysteriously found its way to the outskirts of San Diego. "Instead, it's the historic population in the very beginnings of a recovery." ![]() The study shows it's unlikely Florida's flamingos-which are increasing in population-are escapees, Whitfield says. "That coincidence just led the experts at the time to come to the conclusion that they were escapees," says co-author Jerry Lorenz, state research director for Audubon's Everglades Science Center. In the 1950s, for example, captive flamingos would regularly escape from Hialeah Park Race Track. (Related: " What's Your Favorite Extinct Species? Scientists' Top Picks.")Īs flamingos disappeared from the wild, random sightings of the bird began to be considered fugitives from captive populations. By 1900, though, flamingos had been hunted for food, skins, and feathers-almost to their vanishing point. Naturalist John James Audubon himself visited Florida in the 1830s specifically to see flamingos, Whitfield says by email. Whitfield, a conservation ecologist at Zoo Miami's Conservation and Research Department. "During the 1800s, it was commonly accepted that were native," says study leader Steven M. The bird also lives in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America. There are six species of flamingo, and the American, or Caribbean, flamingo is found in Florida. Even our emblematic flamingos were widely thought to be escapees from captivity-until now.Ī new study sheds new light on a long-standing controversy by suggesting flamingos are indeed true residents of the Sunshine State. Few of us Floridians are native to the state.
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