For nearly 100 years, the mockingbird has served as Florida’s official state bird. Yes, the mockingbird. Not the flamingo, despite what many people think. But that grievous wrong — which began in 1927 ...

Rebecca Chapman remembers the moment vividly. She was standing on a beach along the Indian River on Merritt Island watching a man next to her doing a “happy dance on his twinkle toes.” “He was giddy.

Fellow Floridians, we owe the American flamingo a lot. Let us count the ways. First, and most obviously, we have been using it as our pink mascot for decades. We slap it onto just about everything to ...

A study led by biology graduate student Jessica Folsom used genomic data in determining the flamingo population and its ...

The Florida Legislature has once again pulled out its binoculars and is scanning the skies for a new state bird. With such an impressive array of avian life, our current state bird, the northern ...

Flamingos feed and preen in Estero Bay Preserve State Park in Florida in September. Andrew West The News-Press / USA TODAY NETWORK Ask anyone about Florida’s state bird, and they’ll likely guess it’s ...

"Peaches" the flamingo wades in shallow water with a visible blue band and satellite tracker on the bird's legs. Days after Hurricane Idalia blew through Florida in August, people began sighting ...

It’s that time of year again — the race is on for Florida’s state bird. The battle to dethrone the current Northern mockingbird with the Florida scrub jay has been going on for decades, but this time ...

Florida lawmakers are considering replacing the mockingbird as the state bird with the flamingo and scrub-jay. This is the eighth attempt in 25 years to replace the mockingbird. The bills have gained ...

When you land at the Tampa International Airport, you can’t miss the 21-foot flamingo. At first, I rolled my eyes; after all, flamingos are always in our face here in Florida. But recently I’ve ...

The mockingbird has been Florida's state bird since 1927, when the state was much more agricultural and less populated on the coasts. The proposed change highlights the state's modern identity and the ...