Originally published on April 22, 2021 11:39 am
Two years after a team of scientists uncovered evidence that American flamingos inhabited the state long before a captured flock was imported to provide scenery at the racetrack at Hialeah Park, state wildlife managers are recommending the iconic birds not be classified as native or protected.
Today’s wild birds are likely just visiting from other places, biologists said in a draft assessment scheduled to be presented at a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting next month.
“The return of this iconic species to the Everglades, Biscayne Bay and the Florida Key is certainly worthy,” the report concludes. But their numbers are so small that requiring protections in Florida would do little to increase global numbers. Lack of data also made it difficult to justify the listing, the report concluded.
5 hours ago by Danielle Prieur (WMFE)
Photo: MORAN
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State wildlife biologists say the iconic American flamingo does not need to be protected in Florida. That’s the finding they plan to present next month to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
They say the birds may have once been a native species, but any flamingos spotted today are likely visitors, not residents. That’s disappointed scientists who asked that they be added to the state’s threatened species list. But they don’t think this story is quite over.
A flock of wild flamingos appeared in a Palm Beach County stormwater treatment area.
Two years after a team of scientists uncovered evidence that American flamingos inhabited the state long before a captured flock was imported to provide scenery at the racetrack at Hialeah Park, state wildlife managers are recommending the iconic birds not be classified as native or protected.
Today’s wild birds are likely just visiting from other places, biologists said in a draft assessment scheduled to be presented at a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting next month.
“The return of this iconic species to the Everglades, Biscayne Bay and the Florida Key is certainly worthy,” the report concludes. But their numbers are so small that requiring protections in Florida would do little to increase global numbers. Lack of data also made it difficult to justify the listing, the report concluded.