Another Summer Socialite: Picky Flamingo Chooses Fancy Pond to Mingle With Swans

Birders and other wildlife enthusiasts on Eastern Long Island have been treated to a special sight: a lone American flamingo relaxing in the Hamptons. The gorgeous bird was seen wading, floating, and flying over East Hampton’s Georgica Pond.

Although outlets like The New York Post jumped the gun on the story (“First-ever American flamingo to visit New York spotted in East Hampton pond”), avian historians quickly corrected the record. There have been at least four sightings of these brilliant pink birds in the area over the last century.

There was speculation that the flamingo had been blown north by hurricane winds last August (so where was it all winter?), rather than as an escapee from a local exotic-bird collection.

Within a day or two the colorful migrant had apparently moved on. The same specimen was spotted on Cape Cod. “I have no idea why it’s flying north,” Mark Faherty, science coordinator for Mass Audubon Cape Cod,  said to NBC affiliate Boston 10. “The thinking is it’s just some bird that was displaced by the hurricane back then that doesn't know where it lives anymore.”

The jaunt to Cape Cod turned out to be a brief weekend getaway, because soon enough the flamingo was back at the same site on Long island’s South Fork, where he has now taken up with a bevy of swans. He appears to have decided that summering on Georgica Pond suits his needs.

Although the American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is an invasive species at this latitude, he does not bring any apparent harm to indigenous species in the northeast. We were concerned that the lost creature would be wanting for flamingo companionship but he seems happy with his new life among the swans, who could probably use a little color in their lives.

Photo credit: EJ Bartolazo via X