{"id":267020,"date":"2026-05-11T19:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267020\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T19:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:29:07","slug":"why-the-flamingo-is-a-poor-choice-for-floridas-state-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267020\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the flamingo is a poor choice for Florida\u2019s state bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Caribbean<\/p>\n

Caribbean flamingos at Flamingo Gardens in Davie.<\/p>\n

Miami Herald File \/ 2002<\/p>\n

For the birds<\/p>\n

Re: the May 6 Miami Herald story, \u201cRetirement plan for Zoo Miami\u2019s Ron Magill: make the flamingo Florida\u2019s state bird<\/a>.\u201d Zoo Miami\u2019s retiring spokesperson wants to make the flamingo Florida\u2019s state bird?<\/p>\n

I cannot think of a worse idea. The northern mockingbird has been Florida\u2019s state bird for nearly 100 years. It can be found singing its cheerful melodious songs at every residential property in every Florida county and is well known to every resident, from children to adults. Even its Latin name, Mimus polyglottos, refers to mimicking many songs.<\/p>\n

The American flamingo, on the other hand, is not a year-round Florida resident; it is mostly only found in Biscayne National Park and Everglades National Park during the winter months, migrating from Mexico, the Bahamas, or the Greater Antilles. The American flamingo did historically nest in South Florida, but were wiped out by plume hunters by the early 1900s. Since then, they typically can only be seen in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties as winter migrants.<\/p>\n

If the American flamingo does become our state bird, to see one in Florida in the spring or summer, one would have to go to a local zoo or a tourist attraction. How absurd is that?<\/p>\n

Roger Hammer,<\/p>\n

Homestead<\/p>\n

Ballroom blitz<\/p>\n

President Trump has assured us, with characteristic modesty, that his grand ballroom will be funded entirely through the generosity of donors \u2014 not a single taxpayer dollar required. One marvels at such fiscal restraint.<\/p>\n

Yet, curiously, some Congressional Republicans have introduced legislation to provide $1 billion \u2014 for a ballroom! \u2014 in public funding for this very project. Apparently, the donor pipeline has proven less robust than advertised.<\/p>\n

I offer a modest suggestion. If these enthusiastic legislators believe so fervently that American taxpayers should foot the bill for presidential entertaining space, perhaps they might lead by example. Congressional salaries run roughly $174,000 per year. These members could forgo their own taxpayer-funded compensation and donate it directly to Trump\u2019s ballroom fund. At that rate, it would only take each of them a few thousand years to close the gap \u2014 but one appreciates the gesture.<\/p>\n

The rest of us, meanwhile, will be busy funding schools, roads and veterans\u2019 care with our tax dollars. Quaint priorities, perhaps, but ones we hold dear.<\/p>\n

George A. Minski,<\/p>\n

Surfside<\/p>\n

Why the hate?<\/p>\n

I recently participated in a discussion in my Osher Lifelong Learning class at the University of Miami on the question of why there is so much hatred in our nation now when just a few decades ago disagreement was much more restrained. We batted-around a few ideas but it wasn\u2019t until I got home that I realized a possible reason.<\/p>\n

When Walter Cronkite died, his obituary revealed he was a lifelong Democrat, much to the surprise of the millions of listeners to his CBS TV newscasts. In those days, there were just three major networks and they all presented the news in a rather objective, straight-forward way, void, usually, of political machinations.<\/p>\n

Today, we have multiple networks committed to a political bias in their \u201creporting\u201d and millions of folks who listen to just their singular choice of news, compounding their inability to see the other side of issues, resulting in the quagmire we now have.<\/p>\n

Roger Shatanoff,<\/p>\n

Coral Gables<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s profiting?<\/p>\n

The United States is petroleum and gas self-sufficient. We export more than a million barrels of oil per day. The companies doing this were making a profit before the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The closure has pushed oil and gas prices sky-high, meaning windfall profits for these companies. And pain for all of us at the pump.<\/p>\n

It would be quite interesting to know how many members of Congress and the Trump administration have significant investments in the oil and gas market. Also interesting to know is how many are involved in the petroleum futures markets and using predictive apps like Kalshi.<\/p>\n

In other words, who is profiting at the public\u2019s expense?<\/p>\n

During World War II, price controls were placed on gasoline and other products to protect consumers and prevent profiteering. Perhaps it is time to consider them again. Set gas prices back to pre-conflict levels, where the companies were still not operating at a loss.<\/p>\n

Michael Marmesh,<\/p>\n

Miami<\/p>\n

Broken Spirit<\/p>\n

Re: the May 7 Miami Herald editorial, \u201cWe mocked Spirit\u2019s no-frills misery, then watched an affordable travel option die<\/a>.\u201d While the carrier\u2019s closure marks the end of a budget era, the true tragedy is the human cost.<\/p>\n

Spirit\u2019s collapse has displaced roughly 17,000 employees, including thousands of pilots and flight attendants. Given the airline industry\u2019s history of elusive profitability, we must ask: Is there a more humane way to mitigate such massive job losses before it is too late?<\/p>\n

The Miami Herald\u2019s initiative to reach out to these displaced workers with its \u201cDid you lose your job?\u201d appeal is a commendable hallmark of social responsibility and an example of community support that other institutions should follow, as thousands of families navigate this sudden instability.<\/p>\n

Atul Karnik,<\/p>\n

Woodside, NY<\/p>\n

Metrorail maintenance<\/p>\n

Several recent Miami Herald stories have focused on the success of Metrorail transporting soccer fans to the Miami Intermodal Station, which is close to Nu Stadium. Another story focused on the efforts to extend Metrorail into the Northeast Corridor of Miami-Dade. Several other stories have focused on the disappointment in establishing the MetroExpress Bus Rapid Transit system, instead of extending Metrorail further south to Homestead and Florida City. However, I have yet to see a recent story about Metrorail\u2019s chronically out-of-service elevators, escalators, turnstiles, filthy train and elevator windows or about the poor, desperate souls who seek shelter for a few hours of sleep next to all their belongings. Elevators and escalators remain constantly out-of-service, even the recently installed ones at Douglas and Coconut Grove Station. On Feb. 7, at the Grove Station, I witnessed four city of Miami Fire and Rescue officers forcing the platform elevator door open to free a trapped senior bike commuter. Needless to say, he was pretty stressed out after being in there for half an hour. Now is the time to figure out how best to improve passengers\u2019 experience, increase ridership and generate more revenue. Providing timely preventative maintenance and expansion of the system is crucial. Our community deserves better, if we actually desire to live up to the county\u2019s slogan, \u201cDelivering Excellence Every Day.\u201d Harry Emilio Gottlieb,<\/p>\n

Coconut Grove<\/p>\n

Delcy\u2019s delicate balance<\/p>\n

Apparently, Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez will stay in power for now, irrespective of her political views.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is because of increased flows of oil and the fact that she did not win the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Richard F. Katz,<\/p>\n

Cooper City<\/p>\n

By the numbers<\/p>\n

Former FBI Director James Comey is being prosecuted for posting a picture of seashells arranged on a beach to form \u201c8647.\u201d<\/p>\n

A commonly used restaurant slang for an item that is out of stock or removed from a menu is \u201c86.\u201d The number 47 allegedly refers to our 47th president, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Frankly, it is a bit of a stretch to see how one can be criminally charged for posting an image of seashells that were arranged by an unidentified person or persons.<\/p>\n

By pure coincidence, adding the four digits together equals 25, as in the 25th Amendment, which empowers our leaders to remove a president from office. Oh, the irony!<\/p>\n

Miles Woolley,<\/p>\n

Kendall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caribbean flamingos at Flamingo Gardens in Davie. Miami Herald File \/ 2002 For the birds Re: the May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-267020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}