A flamingo was spotted on Cape Cod, a very rare and possibly unprecedented bird sighting for Massachusetts.
If the bird is found to be wild, it would be the first American flamingo ever confirmed to have visited the Bay State on its own, according to Mark Faherty, science coordinator for Mass Audubon Cape Cod.
Images of the bird at a Cape Cod beach were circulating on social media over the weekend, and were shared with NBC Boston Tuesday. The bird can be seen wading in the water off shore.
Some people questioned whether the images were real, Faherty said. Then, another person shared with him photos and videos of the flamingo on the Cape, confirming it was there, Faherty said.
A flamingo was previously spotted on Long Island in New York, bringing birdwatchers flocking, and "this is almost certainly the same bird," Faherty said.
As for why the animal flew up to the Cape, Faherty suggested it was just trying to get by, adding, "I have no idea why it's flying north."
American flamingos typically stick to Florida and points south, and sightings outside of Florida are usually linked with escapes from captivity or hurricanes — a hurricane this September dispersed some, and the birds were spotted in strange new places, like Wisconsin and Ohio, Faherty said.
"The thinking is it's just some bird that was displaced by the hurricane back then that doesn't know where it lives anymore," he said.
More on flamingos' recent travels
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It's up to the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee to make the final determination on whether the bird is wild, Faherty said, noting that he's served on the committee before.
American flamingos have been spotted in Massachusetts a few times before, according to Faherty and the committee's database.
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A flamingo was spotted at Plum Island in September 1964, followed by another in Natick the next year. But the committee disagreed on whether the first was wild and found that the latter had escaped from a private collection and ultimately didn't vote to accept either on its list of rare birds that have visited the state.
This flamingo isn't Cape Cod's only interesting visitor from the animal kingdom this week. Boaters got a rare sight of an orca over the weekend.
