TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Peaches, the flamingo rescued in Tampa Bay after Hurricane Idalia in 2023, has returned to its presumed original home in Mexico, according to Yucatán Magazine.
Flocks of the bright pink birds were swept from the Yucatán Peninsula as the storm passed through, carrying them all the way to Florida.
Flamingos found in Florida likely hitched a ride with Hurricane Idalia
They were spotted along the Gulf coast all the way up to the Panhandle, but one captured the hearts of bird lovers across Tampa Bay. He was found floating in the ocean and given the name Peaches.
“Upon arrival, it was just very weak, exhausted and what we call quiet,” Melissa Edwards, Seaside Seabird Sanctuary’s Avian Hospital Director, told WFLA in 2023. “So just not totally acting normal, definitely appeared exhausted.”
The beloved bird was released into the wild after making a recovery. He was spotted along the shoreline for weeks afterward before he eventually disappeared…