The true bird nerds of Northwest Florida had to feel at least a twinge of something this year as reports of flamingo sightings came in not only from across the rest of the state, but also much of the rest of the country.
"I wouldn't say we were jealous, maybe a little envious," said Julie Schiro, vice president and program chair for the Pensacola-based Francis M. Weston chapter of the Audubon Society.
They no longer have to feel left out, as the iconic pink birds finally arrived, and in the flesh as opposed to as yard ornamentation.
Sightings were being reported through the weekend and beyond at Navy Point Park near Naval Air Station Pensacola, with 21 confirmed through noon Monday on the E-Bird bird watching website.
Schiro, who said that for her and her associates being referred to as a bird nerd is more a badge of honor than an insult, went out herself Saturday to see what appeared to have been the single remaining American flamingo hanging around Pensacola.
While she was at the park site, she said she heard discussion that there might have been as many four in the area in recent days, which was backed up by social media posts of multiple flamingos. That number would have constituted, if only briefly, a flamboyance of flamingos, which is the term most often used to describe a group of the birds.
The enthusiasm over having flamingos in town was significantly dampened Tuesday morning when the sole remaining bird at Navy Point Park was found dead.
"I was all excited, now I'm kinda bummed," Schiro said. "At least we got to see it, that was cool."
Stories of flamingos popping up across Florida began following the late August arrival of Hurricane Idalia, a devastating Category 4 storm that swept through the western part of the state.
USA Today reported that in the month following Idalia at least 150 flamingos were seen in four dozen locations across Florida and in at least 14 states, including such far flung locales as Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas.
But up until now, there had been no 2023 flamingo sightings in the Pensacola area.
A handful of the flamingos spotted far from their typical Mexican or Caribbean home sites were traced through identification tags back to the Yucatan Peninsula, USA Today reported, and experts believed they had been caught up in the bands of Idalia’s winds as the storm moved over the northwestern Caribbean Sea.
Caroline Strahala, Audubon's shorebird program manager for the Florida Panhandle, said she wouldn't be surprised if the flamingos seen in Pensacola were some of those blown far north that were now making their way back toward their home bases or a Caribbean wintering destination.
"I think with the onset of winter, we may see some of these birds starting to decide where they will migrate for the winter," Strahala said.
Strahala was still collecting information about the death of the final Pensacola flamingo. She said she'd heard that there was some indication the bird might have suffered an injury, possibly by flying into something. It had been removed from the water at Navy Point Park Tuesday morning.
Cooler weather would not be the greatest factor driving the flamingo's southward migration, Strahala said, as "cold is not the biggest problem for flamingos." More likely it would be the search for available sources of the krill and other tiny invertebrates on which they feed.
She said there's no way of knowing where the Pensacola flamingos had come from or where they might be going. The ones spotted locally were not tagged for identification.
Tags consist of a colored band that is affixed to the flamingo's famously long, slender legs, Strahala said.
"It's a super obvious tag," she said. "Definitely noticeable."
Though there aren't many, some flamingos do call Florida home, Strahala said. Pinky, a flamingo named after it arrived at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge with Hurricane Michael, has seemingly found a forever home in the Florida Panhandle.
More:A 'pink wave' of flamingos has spread to Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas. What's going on?
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses portions of Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties in the eastern Panhandle, was where Schiro said she and most of her Pensacola Audubon Society friends would go to see Pinky and get their flamingo fix prior to this weekend.
She added though, that the flamingos here now are not the first to have visited Escambia County. She vividly remembered the last time a few years ago there was a sighting, right smack in downtown Pensacola. She was on a visit to Illinois at the time and missed the bird's arrival and departure.
"Just my luck," she said.
Strahala theorized that this weekend's sightings may be due to the flamingos moving into a more public area. She said she'd seen reports of flamingo's being spotted locally, on private property, as early as October.
