LIKE A PIECE OF THE EVERGLADES perched in Abiquiú, a 12-foot tropical bird greets motorists as they pull into Bode’s General Store. “It’s a pink flamingo in the middle of nowhere,” says Andria Mae Romero, who owns Bode’s with her husband, Andy. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Why a pink flamingo?’ ” Created by Santa Fe artist Fredrick Prescott in 2016, the kinetic steel sculpture adds panache to the quiet stretch of US 84 that runs between Española and Tierra Amarilla. The previous owners of Bode’s, which has served the area since 1890, “wanted something that was really fun and exciting,” Prescott says. “I asked, ‘Instead of an elk or a moose, why not something that’s out of the box?’ ” Still, the Florida bird appears oddly at home in its roost, swaying with the New Mexico breeze. “I love how the head moves when it’s windy,” Romero says. One of the seating areas at the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink store, which includes gas, a gift shop, a restaurant, and groceries, looks out on the sculpture. “I nicknamed it the Flamingo Room,” she says.
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