juvenile flamingo | Dina's Wildlife Adventures

A few days after I had first seen the juvenile flamingo at Fred Howard Park (in Tarpon Springs) I was back out there early in the morning. I had to see if he was still there and sure enough, he was in the same spot. The temperature had dropped and it was chilly (around 55 in the morning) and I was thinking he should have left to head back south.

There’s always a lot of cormorants in this spot on the backside of the beach island.

The sun had come out for a short time and as I was driving on the causeway back to the main park I stopped to catch one last shot of the flamingo from the road. This was the last time I saw this beauty. I checked back several times but he must have finally moved on.

I also caught a skimmer doing what he does, skimmer the top of the water for bait fish. He was heading right for me but turned at the last minute.

I stopped by the Dunedin causeway before heading home and saw this big mix of shorebirds along the beach there. Most were skimmers but there were a few terns, gulls and dowitchers mixed in. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it was started to get dark.

A pair of blue winged teals flew by.

By mid-morning I could see the rain far north over land, where I had been an hour before. I was hoping to see some lightning but there was none this morning.

The sun kept peeking out between the rain clouds and I dipped on a rainbow as well.

I was on my way to Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs to look for the flamingo that has been hanging around the beach there for a few days. Random wild flamingos were showing up all over the Tampa bay area. They had been blown in during Hurricane Idalia as it passed by us. It was dark and cloudy but it looked like it was breaking up and the sun was going to come out. When I first got to the park the sun was coming up and I could see a little bit of blue sky.

I immediately found the juvenile flamingo. He was on the back side of the beach island with a bunch of shorebirds.

I got out of the car and sat down on a grassy area. I was glad I had brought my 500mm lens because he was far away and I wanted to stay in the parking area. At first I was the only one there. Later a few other people showed up but everyone stayed far back.

He (or she) was beautiful. I thought he was much prettier than the bright pink adult flamingos. That pale pink on the face with the creme beak was perfect. Eventually the beak will turn white and pink. It was a little sad that he was all alone. Where were his friends? Will he meet back up with them if he heads south for the winter? So many questions. People were saying they hoped the flamingos would stay but they really belong in south Florida (around the keys) and the Caribbean.

He flew close by and headed to the other side of the tiny beach. This was all I could fit in my lens as he went by.

He hung out for a while with the cormorants.

Above is a short video of him feeding. They move their feet in the water to stir up the stuff on the bottom. They eat algae, brine shrimp and any other tiny plants or critters in the shallow water.