MARK STRASSMANN:
00:00:23
Zoo Miami and its American flamingos seem well matched. Flamboyant birds in a flamboyant city. Breakfast, come get it.
MARK STRASSMANN:
00:00:31
In their exhibit, we met up with Frank Ridgley, the zoo's conservation director. It's this icon of the state and an emblem that is an unofficial emblem. And yet, most people have never seen one outside of a zoo. They've been really hard to find.
MARK STRASSMANN:
00:00:46
Virtually impossible to spot for more than a century, until recently. In late 19th century Florida, hunters after their meat and feathers pushed them into functional extinction. But something changed over the last 25 years, when hurricanes in the Caribbean chased them into the Everglades. Guide Pete Corradino has seen them feeding near tangles of mangroves here in Everglades National Park. We didn't see any, but sightings are still rare. These birds look like flamingos. They're actually spoonbills. For the first time in forever, there is a chance you can see a flamingo. Just this past July of 2025, we had a flock that was spotted by a helicopter out here in the middle of Everglades National Park. They are out here somewhere. And now there's at least the possibility that they're staying. Which is exciting and hopeful.
MARK STRASSMANN:
00:01:40
What changed? Florida's multi-decade, multibillion dollar restoration of the Everglades. It flushed fresh water into new habitats, and Ridgeley says the flamingos approved. This would be the literal feather in the cap of that achievement to be able to get flamingos to start nesting again. They're feeding, and they're realizing that this habitat is also really good.
MARK STRASSMANN:
00:02:04
The flamingos' comeback story here seems to have legs, long ones. For Eye on America, I'm Mark Strassmann in Miami.
