Important anniversary for Indian River flamingos

We’re coming up on the one-and-a-half-year anniversary of flamingos coming to the Indian River at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is cause for celebration. The unanswered question is are they here to stay.

Four American Flamingos, blown into Florida by Hurricane Idalia, first appeared in the Indian River in December 2023, and they’ve been there ever since. The number of flamingos that have joined them around the refuge has varied over the past 18 months, surpassing 30 at times.

When I visited them last weekend, there were still six hanging around Bird Island.

Flamingos used to be found across Florida back in the 1800s, as they would migrate here from the Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico. The group in the Bahamas was nearly wiped out by sponge fishermen, who killed the birds for food. They were hunted in Florida, too.

Here’s a snippet from a story the Fort Myers Press from 1885: “The red flamingo was once well known in Florida, but he is known no longer. He has been hunted to death and has totally disappeared. The hunter with shoot the last one, knowing it to be the last, with just as much eagerness as he would the first one.”

Fortunately, American Flamingos have survived and, like the ones in the Indian River, are protected from hunting. Let’s hope they’ll be there celebrating their two-year anniversary there this December.