By: Paris Mace-Hearne
On August 26,2023, Tropical Storm Idalia started to form in the western Caribbean Sea. This gained the attention of the national weather services as they predicted it would affect Georgia and northern Florida.
On Wednesday, August 30, the storm had made landfall in Florida, and at this point Idalia was already a Category 3 storm. Even though Idalia only seriously affected Florida, it also touched down in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Sadly, three lives were lost in this storm.
But this storm also brought an unexpected surprise to multiple states in the United States.
Flamingos!
These pink birds were spotted all over the east coast and even in Texas.
Flamingos are extremely migratory, traveling long distances to find food and breeding grounds. Since they usually travel in large flocks it isn’t surprising to find big groups of them together.
These specific birds are normally found in coastal areas like lagoons, beaches, salt pans, and other wetland habitats.
Flamingos are drawn to beaches because they provide the perfect habitat for them to find food, such as small fish and shrimp. The shallow waters and mudflats are ideal for their feeding behavior.
As Flamingos are usually found in places like the Carribean and the Galapagos islands, it is very rare to see them wild in the United States which makes this event even more interesting as hundreds of them were spotted in multiple different beaches across the east coast.
Zoologists and meteorologists think that this unusual migration difference was caused by the Hurricane. This could be because of the currents pushing their food to different parts of the ocean or the winds might have forced them to come towards the US.
Either way this phenomenon has brought happiness to those who have been affected by the hurricane. And some could say that this is the rainbow after the storm.
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