People living outside of Florida think of the Pink Flamingo as a common Florida bird. After all, every souvenir shop carries key chains, ornaments, dish towels, etc. with their likeness. In reality, sightings occur mostly in the Everglades, and even a visit to the Everglades does not guarantee seeing one. We heard that one flamingo spent a lot of time at St. Mark’s NWF in northern Florida, arriving several years ago with Hurricane Michael. We visited before and never saw it, though just after Hurricane Idalia a few more had been sighted so we hoped maybe this time. We drove down the road toward the lighthouse, looked to the right, and there he stood alone on the other side of the water, the only bird in sight. There is something special about a pink bird 5 feet tall. We heard of other Flamingo sightings including in Tampa Bay, believed the result of Hurricane Idalia. I’m not sure this one pictured is Pinky, the “original” resident of five years ago, or one of the recent arrivals.
We drove to the lighthouse, and looking to the sky in the east realized with the weather coming in we needed to cut our visit short. We walked around a bit more, then headed out. And yes, we did get to drive though that storm, and it was a strong one.
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