John
Audubon first sees Flamingos near Indian Key
Above
image from Historical Museum of Southern
Florida
- Audubon images at the
Historical
Museum website were
produced from prints of an original Elephant Folio
belonging to the museum.
http://www.historical-museum.org/collect/audubon/audubon.htm)
See Audubon
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May 7,
1832 - Audubon first saw Flamingos while sailing near
Indian Key, and was anxious to obtain a specimen from
which to make a painting. Unable to shoot one he was
unable to sketch one while in the Florida Keys.
While in
London, England he wrote several times asking his friend
John Bachman, a Lutheran minister in Charleston, South
Carolina, for a specimen. In 1838 he obtained
specimens from Cuba. The print above is based on that
painting.
Flamingos
The
Flamingo is mainly a Caribbean bird but frequents the
tropical Florida Keys. Its unusual shaped bill acts as a
filtering mechanism for trapping food. The bright red
orange color of its plumage comes from consuming carotene
in the form of shrimp.
Part of
what Audubon writes in his Ornithological
Biography, Volume. V, pages 255 to 257 appears
below:
"On
the 7th of May 1832, while sailing from Indian Key,
... I for the first time saw a flock of Flamingoes. it
was on the afternoon of one of those sultry days
which, in that portion of the county, exhibit towards
evening the most glorious effulgence that can be
conceived. The sun now far advanced toward the
horizon, still shown with full splendour, the ocean
around glittered in its quiet beauty, and the light
fleecy clouds that here and there spotted the heavens,
seemed flakes of snow margined with gold. our bark was
propelled almost as if by magic, for scarcely was a
ripple raised by her bows as we moved in silence. Far
away to seaward we spied a flock of Flamingoes
advancing in "Indian Line," with well speard wings,
outstretched necks, and long legs directed backwards.
Ah! reader, could you but know the emotions that then
agitated my breast! I thought that I had now reached
the height of my expectations, for my voyage to the
Floridas was undertaken in a great measure for the
purpose of studying these lovely birds in their own
beautiful islands. "
"When
I reached Key West, my first inquiries, addressed to
Dr. Benjamin Strobel, had reference to the Flamingoes,
and I felt gratified by learning he had killed a good
number of them, and that he would assist us in
procuring some. As on that Key they are fond of
resorting to the shallow ponds formerly kept there as
reservoirs of water, for the purpose of making salt,
we visited them at different times, but always without
success . . . "
" .
. . Their walk is stately and slow, and their
cautiousness extreme, so that it is difficult to
approach them, as their great height enables them to
see and watch the movements of their various enemies
at a distance. . . . "
"The
flamingo's highly specialized manner of feeding is as
noteworthy as its dramatic coloring. The bird
plunges its head underwater upside down, then with the
upper bill of its sickle-shaped beak serving as a
dredge and the tongue as a sieve, it scoops small
shellfish from the bottom of shallow lagoons."
FLAMINGOS
IN FLIGHT
Flamingo
photo courtesy of South Florida Water Management
District
CLICK on image for larger representation
Additional
information about the flamingo may be found by following
this link to eNature.com
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