Pink Flamingo: Carpetbagger or March Madness?

While Holly Doremus considers the State of the Birds,  it might be fair to ask her why she spotted a Greater Flamingo, yesterday, in Northern California.  The six Berkeley Law students and this blogger, who accompanied her on a paddle at the Elkhorn Slough and came upon this scene, want to know.   Normally, the closest Pink Flamingo to these parts is a casino in Las Vegas.  Greater Flamingos like the weather in the Caribbean, and the coast of Africa.   Is the current visitor to the Monterey Bay yet another harbinger of a changing climate, or an escapee from the zoo?  Is this part of an exchange program with Florida, where Cal’s Golden Bears will travel this week for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament?  (At least the Great Flamingo is not an imaginary creature.)  We may never have a definitive answer, but we know that at least one cormorant had something to say about it.

birds, Climate Change, cormorant, greater flamingo, ncaa basketball tournament, pink flamingo