Officials at the Jacksonville Zoo have informed the media that a lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor), like the one above, spotted recently at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is not one of theirs.
“All of ours are accounted for,” zoo spokesman Gina Stiles said.
The origin of the refuge’s surprise visitor is “something of an enigma,” Stiles said.
The Sept. 30 sighting was the first account of a non-captive lesser flamingo in Florida. Besides a sighting about a week earlier in St. Augustine, which was not photographed, no other reports of the flamingo have surfaced.
Lesser flamingoes are natives of Asia and Africa but small captive flocks can be found at zoos across the United States. The three closest facilities, including Jacksonville, say they aren’t missing any birds.
Florida has one species of flamingo, the greater flamingo, which is seen occasionally in South Florida. However, novice birdwatchers at the refuge sometimes confuse its resident roseate spoonbills with flamingoes. Dinah Voyles Pulver
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