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Flamingos spotted at Pinellas County beaches
Ariel Placencia
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - There have been flamingo sightings on Treasure Island, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater Beach and Sanibel Island after Hurricane Idalia came through.
Vinnie Fugett told FOX 13 he saw 17 flamingos on Treasure Island Thursday.
"Enjoying themselves in the Gulf just like a tourist hanging out in the waves there," Fugett, who runs Captain Vinnie's Boat Tours, said laughing. "After living here my entire life, I've never seen flamingos walking on Treasure Island like that."
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Experts at Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg told FOX 13 that the flamingos seen on area beaches are likely Caribbean flamingos.
"You see them in the Bahamas, so South America, Central America, more tropical areas. So we think they came up after the hurricane," Emily Mastoroudis, an animal care professional with Sunken Gardens, said.
"When they're flying, they get blown around in the hurricane, and they can get blown off their path."
Mastoroudis cares for the 21 Chilean flamingos at Sunken Gardens, different from those people have been seeing on the beaches.
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She said the Caribbean flamingos have a deeper orange and pinker color.
"That’s the one I think people think of whenever they hear flamingo," Mastoroudis said.
If you’re still hoping to catch a glimpse of these pink beauties on the beach, it’s hard to say exactly where they’ll be next or if they’re even still here.
"We were hoping they would fly over and be like, ‘That’s where we should be!’ and come land here," Mastoroudis said of Sunken Gardens. "That would be really cool."