Tourists aren’t the only ones who start flocking to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, this time of year.
A flamingo was spotted along the shoreline of the popular summer destination Sunday by several beachgoers, who captured the unexpected visitor as the tropical bird waded through the water and stood on a sandbar at Chapin Beach in the town of Dennis.
If it is verified to be a wild bird, as opposed to an escaped bird, the sighting would mark the first time a wild flamingo has been seen in Massachusetts, according to Mark Faherty, science coordinator for Mass Audubon Cape Cod.
“If it’s a wild bird, it’s unprecedented,” Faherty told KeynoteUSA.
Previous sightings of American flamingos recorded in the state (two in the mid-1960s and one in 1985) involved escaped birds, according to Faherty, who believes this latest sighting is that of a wild bird that arrived on Cape Cod on his own.
It’s difficult to prove, although Faherty believes the flamingo is the same one seen on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York, last week, due to the proximity to Cape Cod and the rarity of the bird in the region.
“That seems to be the most likely explanation,” he said.
It’s a mystery how the bird ended up outside its native range, although Faherty has a theory. Last year, flocks of flamingos were swept north into parts of the eastern United States by Hurricane Idalia almost immediately after making landfall near Big Bend, Florida, on August 30, and were spotted in states including Virginia , the Carolinas, Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida, where they were once natives.
The stray phenomenon is a known phenomenon among hurricanes that travel through the Gulf of Mexico, Faherty said.
“We know from a bird tracked in the early 2000s that when they are displaced in this way, they don’t come home,” Faherty said. “They tend to become permanent hurricane refugees and just wander around wherever they end up.”
A flamingo is seen on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at Chapin Beach in Dennis on June 2, 2024. Samantha Roth
Jerry Lorenz, state director of research for Audubon Florida, told KeynoteUSA he strongly suspects the flamingo flew out of the Yucatan region due to Hurricane Idalia.
“I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that that’s a bird that came with Idalia,” he said.
If the Cape Cod flamingo is one of those birds swept away by hurricanes, Faherty said it’s “still pretty surprising” that it ended up in Massachusetts.
“Why did you come all this way to get to Cape Cod now, in June?” he said. “It’s a mystery.”
Lorenz said the “extraordinary” sighting could probably have been because the bird got confused and flew in the wrong direction.
“Greater flamingos, which are a different species, have been documented to fly 180 degrees in the opposite direction when migrating,” he said. “I think this bird was probably here in Florida and was going, I’m going back to my house in Yucatan or Cuba or wherever and flew in the opposite direction.”
Or it could be that the bird likes the north and is exploring, he said. He also said that flamingos are “strange birds” and their behavior can be difficult to explain.
“There are so many possibilities,” he said, noting that the most likely is that it came with Hurricane Idalia and he is “confused.”
Lorenz noted that by restoring Florida’s wetlands, flamingo sightings in northern states could become more common if the birds establish a local population.
The Massachusetts Avian Records Committee will ultimately examine the evidence and vote on whether the Cape Cod flamingo is wild so it can be included on the state’s official list of rare birds. The committee, which meets twice a year, is likely to meet in the coming weeks, said Faherty, a former member.
For now, bird watchers, including Faherty, have flocked to the area after the initial sightings to try to catch a glimpse of the flamingo.
Faherty said it hasn’t been seen since Sunday, leaving bird enthusiasts wondering where it will appear next.
“It could still be hidden somewhere out of the way here on the Cape. But it could also be three states away,” Faherty said. “Who knows?”
Lorenz said there is a chance the Cape Cod bird could stay in the region before heading south during cold weather.
Faherty said he will keep an eye out for the bird, the kind of rare and unexpected sighting he said birders live for.
“I just encourage people to… grab some binoculars and start looking around,” he said. “You’ll never know what you’ll find.”
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Keynote USA
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