Retirement plan for Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill: make the flamingo Florida’s state bird

After nearly a half-century promoting animals as Zoo Miami’s spokesperson, Ron Magill says he’s raring for a fight on behalf of a bird that helped make him famous: the Florida flamingo.

“The flamingo needs to be the state bird of Florida,” he told the Miami Herald on Tuesday after accepting a “Ron Magill Day” proclamation from the Miami-Dade Commission in honor of his retirement as the county-owned zoo’s communications director. “This is an absolute must.”

Magill, 66, has been working at Zoo Miami since it was located on Key Biscayne, joining the county payroll in 1979. For decades, he has enjoyed fame from his frequent television appearances promoting the zoo, almost always with at least one animal sidekick in tow.

But it was the American flamingo that brought Magill one of the most iconic moments of his career.

He took some publicity photos of the zoo’s preparations for the approach of Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992. One still image captured about two dozen flamingos huddled inside a zoo bathroom, the stall doors closed and the floor covered in straw. The birds survived, newspapers across the world published the photo and Magill was on his way to becoming county government’s most well-known employee.

“Had we not put them in that bathroom, they all probably would have died,” Magill said. “Every Aug. 24 for the last 30-plus years, it goes all over the internet as the iconic symbol of Hurricane Andrew.”

Magill’s retirement begins after work on Friday, the final day of a 46-year county career. He was notoriously outspoken while on the Miami-Dade payroll, opposing the County Commission’s support for the Calusa housing development near his Kendall home and fighting his own employer to defeat the planned Miami Wilds water park, which would have generated significant income for Zoo Miami.

But Magill said county limits on employee lobbying of state lawmakers stymied him from joining the fight to end the mockingbird’s status as Florida’s state bird and to upgrade the flamingo to that honorary title. “I was forbidden from going to speak in Tallahassee to make the flamingo the state bird of Florida,” he said.

The flamingo fight could probably use Magill’s help. Last year the Florida House overwhelmingly passed legislation to end the Northern mockingbird’s 99-year run as the state bird and replace it with the American flamingo.

A main argument centered on the ho-humness of the mockingbird — currently the official bird of four other Southern states — and the flamingo’s long tradition as Florida’s unofficial mascot, popping up on beachwear, airport souvenirs and as the default logo when marketing something that needs to squawk “Sunshine State.”

“You’ll never see a mockingbird at an airport,” House co-sponsor Rep. Jim Mooney, a Republican from the Florida Keys, told a Florida legislative committee late last year. “You’ll never see a mockingbird on a lottery ticket.”

While the bill got only one no vote in the House, it died in the Senate. There was some grumbling about a potential slight of pelicans and whether flamingos should be considered native to Florida.

Then there was the mockingbird lobby. One of Tallahassee’s most powerful voices — Marion Hammer, the 87-year-old retired lobbyist for the National Rifle Association — has long been a champion for the mockingbird and its distinctive songs.

Rep. Chip LaMarca, a Lighthouse Point Republican who co-sponsored Mooney’s bill, is leaving his House seat this year due to term limits. But he knows Magill from his frequent appearances on Paul Castronovo’s radio show and said he’s eager to head back to Tallahassee next year with Magill to resume the flamingo fight again. “I think we can get it done,” LaMarca said. “I’d love to work with him on this.”

While Magill is retiring from his county job, he’s not going far. The Zoo Miami Foundation — which raises money for the zoo — is taking him on as goodwill ambassador, where he’ll continue making public appearances to promote conservation and a love of animals. The foundation, an independent charity, is already on record supporting making the flamingo Florida’s official bird.

While Tallahassee will see him speaking up for flamingos, Magill said he’s also planning trips to Washington to fight for better conservation and environmental protections.

“I’m going to be able to speak my mind a lot more,” he said. “Which is going to be quite liberating, to be honest with you.”