ENVIRONMENT

It turns out that Florida’s prettiest pinkos are natives of the Sunshine State after all. (National Geographic)

Learn more about American flamingos with the Photo Ark!

Discussion Ideas

• What is the species range of the American flamingo?
  • Until recently, the species range of the American flamingo was thought to be mostly in the countries of the Caribbean—hence the bird’s other name, the Caribbean flamingo. Healthy populations can be found along the coastlines of Cuba, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the northern shores of South America. We now know populations of flamingos are probably native to southern Florida as well!

 

• If ornithologists didn’t think flamingos were native to Florida, how did they explain the enormous flocks reported by naturalists of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries?
  • Some of those early naturalists did think the birds were year-round residents.
  • Other early naturalists “suggested that flamingos were only seasonal visitors that foraged in Florida but nested in the Bahamas or Cuba.”

 

• Native or transient, why did flamingo populations plummet in the late 19th century?
  • “Historical flocks were heavily hunted, and there is strong evidence that hunting led to extirpation of the historical population by about 1900.” (Extirpate is a great vocabulary word, isn’t it?)

 

• Why were flamingos hunted?
  • feathers. That gorgeous pink plumage was used in hats and fans throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries.
  • food. Flamingos meat used to be available at specialty markets in the U.S.
    • This isn’t new: The ancient Romans served flamingo as a delicacy.
    • Flamingo meat is still available (if not popular) places such as Iraq and India, and the birds have been hunted as an emergency food source in Venezuela.
    • How does it taste? “As a rule, all fish-eating or carnivore birds, the flesh of these birds is stinky. It never tastes good.”

 

• Populations of American flamingos have recovered. In fact, they are evaluated as a species of “least concern.” Is it legal to hunt them?
  • No. Flamingos are protected by the U.S. Migratory Bird Act of 1918.

 

• If experts thought flamingos were not native to Florida, how did they explain the individual birds (and sometimes entire flocks) that consistently appeared in the Sunshine State as their population recovered?
  • escapees. Many birds were thought to be escapees from one of the captive populations throughout the state. Many birds regularly escaped from Hialeah Park Racing and Casino, the only known large, breeding population of flighted flamingos in Florida, for example. (The first flock at Hialeah Park was imported from Cuba in the 1930s. Learn more about “Hialeah’s Famous Flamingos” here.)
  • migrants. “For decades, Florida’s official position has been that flamingos may occasionally wander through from Mexico, Cuba, or the Bahamas.” Even the authors of the new study say “Recent population increases in Florida are best explained by immigration from expanding nesting populations in the Caribbean.”

 

• How did scientists determine that Florida’s flamingos are native species after all?
  • history. “The research team started its search for flamingos by looking for evidence of flamingos in Florida before the plume hunting trade took off in the late 19th century.” This evidence included:
    • field notes from ornithologists and hunters (including John James Audubon, who was both). These notes included dates, sizes of the flocks encountered, the presence of juveniles, and notes about the birds from the local population.
    • museum specimens, including mounted flamingos and flamingo eggs
  • GPS. Meet Conchy, the first and (so far) only flamingo ever tagged in the U.S. After showing up at the Key West Naval Air Station in 2015, Conchy was taken to Zoo Miami and later released. His tracking device revealed Conchy stayed in Florida Bay for two years, showing the region can support a flamingo population.

 

• How did citizen scientists contribute to the discovery of Florida’s homegrown flamingos?
  • They contributed in a big way, and were recognized by the new study’s authors. Beginning about 1950, scientists “had lots of data from a quiet cadre who had been documenting and sharing information for decades: birders. The number of reports, and the numbers of birds reported in each sighting, have been steadily increasing for years and really took off in this century.”

 

TEACHERS TOOLKIT

Nat Geo: Surprising Origin of American Flamingos Discovered

NPR: Florida’s Long-Lost Wild Flamingos Were Hiding In Plain Sight

Nat Geo: Photo Ark: American Flamingo

(extra credit!) The Condor: Ornithological Applications: Status and trends of American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) in Florida, USA