PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Some South Florida lawmakers are seeing pink.
From the opening credits of Miami Vice, to the lottery logo, to souvenirs of all sorts, the American flamingo is a symbol of Florida.
But it’s not our state bird: instead, it’s the Northern mockingbird. Legislation is moving forward to change that.
Over the last few years, Local 10 News has documented instances of the birds making their way back to Florida, including in the Florida Keys.
Flocks of flamingos are still being spotted in Florida Bay.
Jerry Lorenz, with Audobon Florida, said the majestic birds started showing up a couple of years ago after Hurricane Idalia.
“I think the birds were probably making that crossing, the storms kept getting bigger,” he said in 2023. “They kept trying to go around it and didn’t make it and just rode along with the storm until it landed in Florida and they fell out at either side of the storm.”
Despite misconceptions that sightings of the bird in the wild were merely escapees from Hialeah Park and other captive populations, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission considers them a native species.
However, the populations in the Sunshine State were decimated in the early 20th century. The beautiful birds were coveted for their meat as a delicacy and their feathers as fashion.
“We’re hoping they find that they like it here and stay,” Lorenz said in 2023. “And maybe even someday nest and we’ll have our own population again.”
On Tuesday, a Senate committee unanimously advanced the bill to make the big change.
One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, said the measure is “more than symbolic.”
“It is about identity, conservation and restoring the images of a state that deserves to be represented not by what is common,” a reference to the fact that the mockingbird is the official bird of four other states, “but by what is uniquely Floridian.”
Several people also came to speak in favor of the bill.
Barbara DeVane, usually a Capitol lobbyist for the National Organization for Women’s Florida chapter, came to support it in a personal capacity — decked out in a flamingo sweater.
“Florida is a very colorful state and we thank you so much for this wonderful bill,” she said.
A companion House bill underwent its first reading earlier in March.
Under the bills, the Florida scrub jay would become the state’s official songbird.