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Flamingos are being spotted across the continental United States in some cases thousands of miles from their usual habitats, and experts believe Hurricane Idalia is to blame.
The long-legged wading birds have been sighted as far afield as Ohio, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee and Texas in recent days, according to Audubon Florida, a nonprofit that is tracking their movements.
Flamingos are also cropping up in parts of Florida where they are rarely seen, such as the north central Alachua County and Collier County on the southern Gulf Coast.
Audubon Florida’s state director for research Jerry Lorenz told CNN the distinctive pink birds may have been flying from Cuba to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico when they were blown off course by Idalia.
“We have never seen anything like this,” Mr Lorenz said, adding that fresh sightings were continuing to …