Animals and Wildlife

The famous Cape Cod flamingo appears to be back

A flamingo was spotted in Massachusetts for the second time this summer

A flamingo on Cape Cod on Monday, July 15, 2024
Lisa Schibley

A flamingo that may have made Cape Cod history earlier this summer appears to be back.

Birders spotted a flamingo on Dennis' Chapin Beach this Monday, weeks after another sighting. Some experts believe that the flamingo spotted swimming, flying and wading in Massachusetts' water is the same one as the first, which, if found to be wild, would be the first American flamingo ever confirmed to have visited the Bay State on its own,

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Lisa Schibley, a coordinator at bird research and conservation group Manomet, told NBC10 Boston that this may be the same flamingo that was seen getting some summer sun this June. The bird may have returned after spending some time in Long Island, New York.

She said that the bird was originally found by M.J. Foti, who was conducting research for Manomet's shorebirding project. Foti shared her find with the birding community through a rare bird GroupMe chat.

Flamingo in the water on Cape Cod on July 24, 2024
Lisa Schibley
The Cape Cod flamingo in the water on Monday
Flamingo flying on Cape Cod on July 15, 2024
Lisa Schibley
The Cape Cod flamingo in flight

This bird, like dozens of other flamingoes, is believed to have been displaced from its home last August by a hurricane, according to a Mass Audubon's science coordinator Mark Faherty in a post on WCAI. It's travelled from the Hamptons to Cape Cod.

Before Monday, it hadn't been spotted since the last sighting in East Hampton in early June.

Faherty, who previously told NBC10 Boston that it would need to be confirmed that the bird is wild, said through WCAI that this animal is indeed the first ever wild flamingo reported in Massachusetts.

A flamingo sighting on Cape Cod got our team talking — how did it get there? Meteorologist Sydney Welch shares a few possibilities. 
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