Pinky and Other Flamingos
Poor Pinky - yanked from his migratory journey and dropped by a violent, swirling sky into unknown territory. He must have been terrified.
Life has not been easy for his kind. In a different time and place, he would likely have fallen victim to the plume trade, which nearly wiped out the pink flamingo population before the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was signed into law in 1918. A hundred years later, after being deposited by Hurricane Michael into St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Pinky was just as avidly pursued as his ancestors had been.
Only this time, he was hunted by bird watchers instead of opportunists trying to capitalize on a fashion fad. This time, his hunters were armed with cameras instead of guns.
He became a celebrity of sorts, drawing frequent visitors, Lanarkians among them, to the refuge. You can see some of their best shots by going to the St. Marks and St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuges Photography Group’s Facebook page and putting “Pinky” in the search bar.
Videographer Karen Willes submitted her video of Pinky kicking up some grub to the Audobon Society’s photography contest where it was selected as one of the 15 best for 2023. You can see why - it’s a lovely depiction of a lovely creature. Not surprisingly, Florida was the setting for 2 of the other 14 winning films, evidence of the state’s superior status as a birdwatcher’s paradise.
Pinky was protected at the refuge and admired by its visitors, but he was one of a kind. Was he lonely? Did he miss being with other birds of a (bright pink) feather? We could only imagine so, and feel for him as we admired him from the shore.
Enter Idalia.
Idalia was not another flamingo but a hurricane that, like Michael before her, briefly redistributed the Florida migratory bird population on its rampage across the state. In the fall of 2023, the storm sucked pink flamingos and other Florida birds into its whirlwind and scattered them across the eastern U.S. where they landed as far away as Wisconsin.
In the storm’s wake, 6 pink flamingos appeared out of the mist in St. Marks Wildlife Refuge as part of what the Audubon Society dubbed “Idalia’s Pink Wave.” They eventually stumbled onto Pinky (or he onto them), and within a couple of weeks, all of them, including St. Mark’s most celebrated resident, left for parts unknown.
One Audoban writer cast doubt on the idea that Pinky departed with his tribe, noting that he had disappeared for short periods before and was not, in any case, particularly social.
But the idea that Pinky at last felt himself to be part of a group he recognized as his own makes for a more compelling story. That’s how the people of Lanark Village, knowing how essential a sense of community is to our wellbeing, like to imagine it.
