Flamingos are Making a Home in Florida Again After 100 Years – an Ecologist Explains Why They May Be Returning for Good
- camilarosiaz
- 46 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Hurricane Idalia blew a flamboyance, or flock, of 300–400 flamingos that was likely migrating between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba off course in August 2023 and unceremoniously deposited the birds across a wide swath of the eastern United States, from Florida’s Gulf Coast all the way up to Wisconsin and east to Pennsylvania.
Peaches, who was blown into Florida by Hurricane Idalia in 2023, was sighted in Mexico in June 2025. Kara Durda/Audubon Florida
I’m an estuarine scientist. That means I study ecosystems where fresh water flows into the ocean. I’ve spent 35 years with Audubon Florida studying the ecology of American flamingos and other wading birds in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park. So naturally, I was thrilled and intrigued by the sudden arrival of these flamingos.
One of the birds was rescued in the Tampa area after nearly drowning in the Gulf of Mexico. His rescuers named him Peaches. A colleague and I were able to place a GPS tracking device and a bright blue band around his spindly leg, with the code “US02” engraved in white letters. We were hoping to track his movements and see whether he ended up settling in Florida.
After Hurricane Idalia, more than 300 credible sightings of flamingos across the eastern U.S. were reported. Unfortunately, a few days after Peaches was released back into the wilds of Tampa Bay, the tracking device failed. His last reported sighting was on a beach near Marco Island on Oct. 5, 2023.
Then, in June 2025, I received an email from colleagues at the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve in Yucatan, Mexico, who had photographed Peaches, blue band still in place, nesting in the reserve. Peaches’ story is the latest piece in the historical puzzle of flamingos in Florida.
Though the native population disappeared more than 100 years ago, recent events lead me to believe that flamingos may be coming back to the Sunshine State, and that their return has been facilitated by the concerted effort to restore the Everglades and coastal ecosystems.
After Hurricane Idalia, more than 300 credible sightings of flamingos across the eastern U.S. were reported. Audubon Florida
In 1956, ornithologist and founder of the National Audubon’s Everglades Science Center Robert Porter Allen wrote The Flamingos: Their Life History and Survival, which is still considered a seminal document on the history of flamingos in Florida. He documented the demise of flamingos in the late 1800s, when they fell victim to the women’s fashion trend of adorning hats with bird feathers. Wading bird feathers were literally worth their weight in gold.
Given legal protection after the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918, most species managed to reestablish huge nesting populations in the Everglades by the 1930s and 1940s. Flamingos, however, did not. In 1956, Allen estimated flamingo populations were only about 25% of what they had been in the previous century.
For decades, scientists believed that any flamingos sighted intermittently around Florida were escapees from captive populations. But that view began to change in 2002, when a flamingo banded as a chick at Rio Lagartos was photographed in Florida Bay. In 2012, a second bird from Rio Lagartos was photographed.
Then, in 2015, my colleagues put a tracking device on a flamingo captured at the Key West Naval Air Station. Conchy, as we called him, lived in Florida Bay for two years. The fact that he stayed for that long was proof to me that it was possible for flamingos to make a more permanent home in Florida.
Fast-forward to today, and it appears that this slow comeback may finally have legs. Six months after Hurricane Idalia, my colleagues at Audubon Florida and I conducted a weeklong online survey of flamingo sightings in Florida. After removing duplicates, we concluded that at least 100 flamingos were left in the state. In July 2025, a flock of 125 individuals was photographed in Florida Bay.
Melissa Edwards, Avian Hospital Director at Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, holds Peaches still while Dr. Frank Ridgley of Zoo Miami and the author, Dr. Jerome Lorenz, place a band and GPS tracker on his leg. Dr. Lorenz has banded or supervised the banding of nearly 3,000 roseate spoonbills, but Peaches was his first and only flamingo to date. Linda Lorenz
The question is, why now? To me, the answer is clear: efforts to restore the Everglades and Florida’s coastal ecosystems are beginning to show progress. Florida Bay’s health is vastly improved from the condition I observed in the 1980s. Water flow has gotten better, and the salinity is back to appropriate levels to support wildlife.
While the Everglades and Florida Bay are still a long way from full restoration, I believe that the return of flamingos such as Conchy and Peaches is evidence that these efforts are on the right track.