Flamingos hitch a ride on Hurricane Idalia

Photo by Meg Rousher ©

Hurricane Idalia, which was spinning between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, picked up over 100 migrating flamingos and scattered them across the United States. They’ve been spotted in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kansas, Alabama, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. I took this photo of a young flamingo on a small island in Southwest Florida yesterday. The hope is they’ll find a place in Florida to breed like they did in the late 1800s.