One American flamingo is taking a break from its usual stomping grounds of South America to visit someplace it's never been. We're talking about the Hamptons. Residents saw the flamingo in East Hampton's Georgica Pond. Many had to do a double-take upon seeing the bird up north.
What makes it so crazy is that flamingos are native to South America, meaning that the bird was a long way from home.
Resident Cathy Blinken said she first noticed the bird and was surprised. "I was just taking a look out onto the pond and the flamingo was directly in front of me," she told New York Post. "And I thought, 'Wait a second, that looks like a strange-looking swan.' As soon as it lifted up its neck, I knew instantly it was a lost flamingo." She ended up calling her husband to contact the local paper to come photograph the bird. The flamingo ended up just hanging out in the pond for several days.
"I have a telescope on him and I'm watching him all day. He kind of flies and he does a couple of bank turns and he comes back. He's so sweet," she said. "He's very well visited. I woke up at like 6 o'clock this morning and there were people already out there observing the flamingo and just being very respectful."
Flamingo Heads North
It's the first time in recorded history that an American flamingo has wandered so far as New York state. Ecologist Jose Ramirez-Garofalo, a PhD candidate at Rutgers University and director of the Freshkills Biological Station on Staten Island, believes local storms may have played a role. He highlighted Hurricane Idalia as a possible cause.
"The hurricane essentially brought a whole bunch of flamingos across the United States," Ramirez-Garofalo told The Post. "It was pretty unprecedented. ... There's not many records of them this far north." He said the hurricane caused the flamingos to overwinter in the Southeast. He said, "This bird is probably one of those that overwintered somewhere in the United States."
Fortunately, the researcher said nothing needs to be done about the wayward bird."This bird is probably tired. It's looking for food. It can definitely stick around," he said. "There's plenty of food, the temperature is right. There is some precedence to having flamingos on the East Coast stick around for the entire summer season."
However, for locals like Blinken, it represents a one in a lifetime opportunity.
"Yesterday, there was a crazy sailboat guy trying to get a closeup and he kept shooing off the flamingo, who was trying to escape the boat," she said. "And I thought, 'Oh God, don't scare the flamingo away!'"
