Ever since Hurricane Idalia brought some American Flamingos to Florida and other far-flung locales more than a year ago, I’ve been fascinated with the group that ended up in the Indian River at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
There were just four when I first visited them in December 2023. They were far off in the river, and even with my long lens, it was difficult to get a good shot of them. Turned out there were several more flamingos scattered across the refuge, and they would occasionally pop up in different spots.
Fast-forward to March 2025, and around 20 flamingos can be seen regularly in the Indian River. They’ve become quite the attraction with kayak tours and birders with boats heading into the shallow water to watch them. I took the plunge (not literally, fortunately) to go see them on a kayak eco tour with Springs to Seas. And it was fantastic.
The flamingos were on the far side of an island in the river, and there were 11 of them this day. Our seven-person group stopped more than 100 yards away from the birds – keeping a respectful distance – to start our photography. This flamingo flamboyance included some brightly colored adults as well as a couple of juveniles who still had many of their gray feathers
After a bit, the beautiful birds decided to take to the sky and flew a long loop around the river, coming back to land about 30 yards from us. (Thanks for us being respectful of their space?)
It was an incredible day, and I took literally hundreds of photos. It’s been fun going through them, and I am still not finished. But here are some of my flamingo photos.
