Flamingos, Hurricane Idalia refugees, find new home
To a few feathery, highfalutin hurricane refugees, everything at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is in the pink as seen through rose-colored glasses.
A small flock of flamingos is now calling the area around KSC home.
On Monday, Steve Van Meter looked through the long lens at four gangly pink figures about 500 yards away. The retired NASA robotics engineer from Cocoa had scrambled to get a glimpse of the American flamingos wading their way around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which overlays the space center.
The birds were likely blown to Brevard County by Hurricane Idalia, which caused a vast flamingo fallout to fan out throughout Florida and several other southern states in late August. Images of the pink statuesque birds have been flying around Facebook, bringing birders to the refuge to catch a glimpse.
While not endangered or threatened, the bird is considered a rarity in these parts of Florida, mostly hanging out in South Florida.
The American flamingo, one of the largest species of flamingo, averages up to five-feet tall and weighs between 4 and 8 pounds, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Their mostly pink to red plumage comes from pigment in their food, including aquatic invertebrates such as shrimp. Flamingos also have black feathers at the edge of their wings. They have webbed feet for wading in shallow water and a distinctive black tip on their bills.
They’re widely distributed throughout the Caribbean, with breeding populations in Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas, according to FWC. A small population also occurs in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. They are generally considered non-migratory but are strong fliers that can span vast distances in search of food or reproductive opportunities.
In Florida, they’ve been seen along much of the state’s coast; however, outside of the Miami area, more than 95% of observations happen within the Everglades, Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys.
But in late August and early September, Hurricane Idalia delivered a flamingo frenzy to the Eastern United States.
Just days after Idalia’s landfall, flamingo sightings had been reported in Alabama, South and North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.
Brevard birders hope the flamingos hang out at the refuge long enough to lure more to scope out the birds during this year’s Space Coast International Birding Festival in Titusville, Jan. 2428. The festival is returning after shutting down last year, citing COVID-19 and lack of birds due to long-term seagrass loss in the Indian River Lagoon
The seagrass is growing back, biologists say, and the baitfish and birds have followed – enough to bring the annual bird fest back.
Van Meter has plenty of experience capturing rare sights on camera, as a soldier and United Press International war photographer in Vietnam and as a hazardous duty robotics specialist for NASA’s space shuttle program.
He hopes the flamingos find plenty of ecological reasons to roost at the refuge. “We still have less wildlife than we did 20 years ago, but things are improving,” Van Meter said.