Hurricane Idalia Report 2023
September 7, 2023
by Amy Davis
Birders know that each hurricane season with its attendant destruction also brings the thrilling prospect of finding tropical and pelagic birds far north or well inland of their usual ranges. Terns, tropicbirds, storm-petrels, and frigatebirds are incongruously deposited into soggy farm fields or seen soaring over battered backyards. And thereās always a remote chance of something even more fantasticāsay, a Yellow-nosed Albatross over the Hudson River in Westchester Co, NY (as in 1976ās Hurricane Belle). But of all the storm birds, there is none gaudier or more glorious than American Flamingo, and perhaps no more absurd place for a pair of them to show up than Ohio. Yes, the American Flamingo is a storm bird, and two likely wild individuals were a crazy first for the Buckeye State. In late Aug 2023, Hurricane Idalia churned across the Gulf of Mexico, pushing flocks and flocks of American Flamingos from the Caribbean into Florida and well beyond. Afterwards, gawky hot pink waders began appearing as if in a collective fever dream or nationwide yard flocking prankāin Virginia, Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Idalia began as a tropical disturbance in the western Caribbean, spinning out over the YucatƔn Peninsula before accelerating into a category 4 hurricane during its northward passage over Cuba and across the Gulf of Mexico. On 30 Aug 2023, Idalia hurtled into the Florida panhandle, then veered through Georgia and spawned tornadoes in the Carolinas before heading offshore towards Bermuda on the following day.

Figure 1. The path of Hurricane Idalia with satellite imagery from 29 Aug 2023.
American Flamingoās present-day Caribbean range encompasses coastal fringes of theĀ YucatĆ”n Peninsula of Mexico, as well as Cuba, Hispaniola, The Bahamas, and the northern coast of South America. (An isolated population also exists in the GalĆ”pagos). Early naturalists described American Flamingos as regularly occurring in southern Florida, and the species may have nested in the Florida Keys. Prior to 1904, flamingos dispersed to southern Florida from a breeding colony on Andros Island in The Bahamas, but after the destruction of this breeding site, flamingos all but disappeared from Florida. Free-flying flamingos occasionally seen there in the following decades were thought to have come from a racetrack in Hialeah that hosted a captive flock descended from imported Cuban birds. The Hialeah flock sometimes produced unbanded, unpinioned juveniles indistinguishable from wild vagrants. In 2002, a blinged-out flamingo at Snake Bight trail in Everglades National Park turned out to have been banded at the RĆa Lagartos breeding colony on Mexicoās YucatĆ”n Peninsula: proof of the occurrence of a wild vagrant in the U.S. Birders began rethinking the speciesās status in the Sunshine State.
While the 2002 bird at Snake Bight isnāt obviously associated with any particular storm, two keen observers of Florida bird life, Douglas McNair and Jeffery Gore, had been noticing a pattern of occurrence in which flamingos appeared post-hurricane, and in 1998, they compiled a list of cyclone-associated flamingo reports dating back to 1912. Figure 3 updates McNair and Goreās 1998 list with more recent Gulf Coast flamingo records. The most familiar example is that of āHDNT,ā an American Flamingo banded as a juvenile at the RĆa Lagartos and subsequently found in Texas after Hurricane Rita in 2005. It was seen sporadically in Louisiana and Texas for years thereafter, most famously in the company of an escaped Greater Flamingo from a Kansas zoo. Among the dozens and dozens of flamingos recently documented in the southern U.S. after Idalia were a total of three wearing bands consistent with the RĆa Lagartos color scheme: one in the Florida Keys, one at Everglades National Park, and one at North Carolinaās Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. One wonders whether these birds could have arrived directly from the YucatĆ”n, given that Idaliaās counterclockwise churn produced northward winds over Cuba. Perhaps these birds had already dispersed from the YucatĆ”n to Cuba when Idalia pushed them further north. After all, Hurricane Rita, which delivered the RĆa-Lagartos-banded āHDNTā to Texas, had bypassed the YucatĆ”n completely after passing over The Bahamas and Cuba, and YucatĆ”n-banded birds have been reported from Cuba.
Although flamingos received well-deserved attention from even the most casual birders after Idalia, they werenāt the only storm-driven birds causing a spectacle in Florida. Sooty Terns were swept inland into Alachua, Marian, Sumter, and Osceola Cos, and a Bridled Tern was found inland on Newnans Lake in Alachua Co. Hundreds of Magnificent Frigatebirds were reported from multiple Florida hotspots on 29 and 30 Aug: the Florida Keys Hawkwatch, Curry Hammock State Park, Monroe Co; Port Charlotte, Charlotte Co; Tarpon Springs, Pinellas Co; and inland at Plant City, Hillsborough Co.
Figure 2. Post-Hurricane-Idalia ABA Area American Flamingo records (30 Augā4 Sep 2023, with the exception of the PA record from 7 Sep). These reports have been gleaned from social media and eBird. Almost all are documented with photos or video, but none has yet been vetted by a state records committee.
Date(s) |
Locale |
County |
State |
Max # Birds |
30 Aug |
Newnans Lake |
Alachua |
FL |
1 |
30ā31 Aug |
Tarpon Springs |
Pinellas |
FL |
16 |
30ā31 Aug |
Fort Myers |
Lee |
FL |
7 |
31 Augā4 Sep |
St. Marks NWR |
Wakulla |
FL |
6 |
31 Aug |
Palm Bay |
Brevard |
FL |
1 |
31 Aug |
Long Key SP |
Monroe |
FL |
3 |
31 Aug |
Treasure Island |
Pinellas |
FL |
16 |
31 Aug |
Boca Grande Fishing Pier |
Charlotte |
FL |
5 |
31 Aug |
Stump Pass Beach SP |
Charlotte |
FL |
2 |
1 Sep |
Plum Tree Island NWR |
York |
VA |
2 |
1 Sep |
Grassy Key/Key Vaca Cut |
Monroe |
FL |
8* |
1 Sep |
Caesars Creek SP |
Warren |
OH |
2 |
1ā4 Sep |
Cape Romaine NWR |
Charleston |
SC |
2 |
1ā4 Sep |
Fort De Soto Park |
Pinellas |
FL |
8 |
1 Sep |
Marco Island |
Collier |
FL |
14 |
1 Sep |
Anna Maria Island |
Manatee |
FL |
2 |
2ā4 Sep |
Pea Island NWR |
Dare |
NC |
11* |
2 Sep |
Windley Key Fossil Reef |
Monroe |
FL |
2 |
2ā3 Sep |
Iron City |
Wayne |
TN |
5 |
2ā4 Sep |
Moundville |
Hale |
AL |
3 |
2 Sep |
Panama City |
Bay |
FL |
3 |
2ā4 Sep |
Port St. Joe |
Gulf |
FL |
1 |
2ā4 Sep |
Estero Bay Preserve SP |
Lee |
FL |
51 |
2 Sep |
Everglades NP |
Monroe |
FL |
8* |
3 Sep |
East Beach Lagoon |
Galveston |
TX |
5 |
4 Sep |
Cave Run Lake |
Rowan |
KY |
1 |
7 Sep |
St. Thomas Twp. |
Franklin |
PA |
2 |
*Flock includes one individual apparently banded at the RĆa Lagartos colony in YucatĆ”n, Mexico.
Figure 3. Historical U.S. records of American Flamingo correlating with Northern Atlantic Basin tropical cyclones. All associated cyclones passed over or very near the YucatƔn Peninsula, The Bahamas, and/or Cuba (except for Barry).
Date(s) Present |
Location |
# Birds |
Storm |
15 Oct 1912 |
Texas coast |
1 |
Not named |
1ā15 Oct 1965 |
Wakulla Co, FL |
1 |
Hurricane Debbie |
12 Jun 1970 |
Wakulla Co, FL |
1 |
Tropical Depression Alma |
19 Jun 1972 |
Wakulla Co, FL |
1 |
Hurricane Agnes |
12 Jun 1995 |
Franklin Co, FL |
1 |
Hurricane Allison |
18ā23 Sep 2004 |
St. Johns Co, FL |
1 |
Hurricane Frances |
1 Oct 2004 |
Monroe Co, FL |
2 |
Hurricane Frances |
14 Oct 2005ā17 Dec 2006
|
Calhoun and Aransas Cos, TX |
1 |
Hurricane Rita* |
28 May 2007 |
Cameron Co, TX |
1 |
Hurricane Rita* |
30 Sep 2007 |
Cameron Co, LA |
1 |
Hurricane Rita* |
2ā11 May 2009 |
Cameron Co, LA |
1 |
Hurricane Rita* |
21 Aprā31 May 2011 |
Cameron Co, LA |
1 |
Hurricane Rita* |
1 Nov 2018āpresent |
Wakulla Co, FL |
1 |
Hurricane Michael** |
13 Jul 2019 |
Lake Co, TN |
1 |
Hurricane Barry** |
19ā21 Jul 2019 |
New Madrid Co, MO |
1 |
Hurricane Barry** |
16 Sep 2021
|
Willacy Co, TX |
1 |
Hurricane Nicholas*** |
*All pertain to āHDNT,ā an individual banded at the RĆa Lagartos colony.
**An unbanded flamingo, dubbed āPinky,ā arrived at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge post-Hurricane Michael in 2018, and still frequents St. Marks as of this writing almost five years later. While āPinkyā was absent from St. Marks in Jul 2019, an unbanded flamingo appeared on the Mississippi River in Lake Co, TN and New Madrid Co, MO ahead of Hurricane Barry, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle. This flamingo or another was photographed downriver in Warren Co, MS and Madison Parish, LA on 11 Oct 2019. The latter record was accepted by the Mississippi Bird Records Committee but rejected by the Louisiana Bird Records Committee for lack of evidence of wild origin. āPinkyā was not reported from St. Marks NWR 2 Julā13 Oct 2019.
***Subsequent TX records from Cameron and Kenedy Cos in Oct and Nov 2021, respectively, may pertain to this individual.
Recommended citation: Davis, Amy. 2023. Hurricane Idalia Report 2023. North American Birds.
Sources:
Sheridan Coffey and Larry Manfredi, personal communication.
Louisiana Ornithological Society, http://www.losbird.org/lbrc/amfl.html
McNair, Douglas B. and Jeffery A. Gore. (1998). Assessment of Occurrences of Flamingos in Northwest Florida, Including a Recent Record of the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber). Florida Field Naturalist 26(2): 40ā43.
Pranty, Bill and Gianfranco D. Basili. (2007). First Record of the Greater Flamingo for Northeastern Florida. Florida Field Naturalist 35(4) 114ā118.
Texas Bird Records Committee, https://www.texasbirdrecordscommittee.org/

Amy Davis is Associate Editor of North American Birds and special issues of Birding, as well as Editor of ABAās online Field Ornithology series and Regional Compiler for NABās Hudson-Delaware region. She supports community science, participates in various breeding bird atlases, and serves on two state records committees. A lover of fishing and pelagic birding, Amy resides in Forked River, New Jersey.