As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Mystery flamingo (not plastic) turns up in San Francisco Bay

Gaze out to San Francisco Bay, and chances are you'll see herons, egrets, ducks and dozens of other familiar bird species.

But this summer hikers and weekend bird-watchers are all aflutter about a new, and distinctly exotic arrival: a flamingo.

That's right. A flamingo. And it's not made of plastic.

The elegant pink bird — normally found in tropical areas thousands of miles from San Francisco Bay — has been spotted several times, and photographed swimming off the Sunnyvale shoreline over the past month. Before that, another flamingo, probably the same one, was seen off the Hayward shoreline as far back as Thanksgiving.

"There's a buzz about it," said Larry Campbell, of San Carlos, who spotted the
A flamingo swims alongside a duck in the waters of San Francisco Bay off the Sunnyvale coast. The bird was photographed on June 23, 2013 and has been intriguing bird watchers in the south bay. (Courtesy Bilal al-Shahwany)

flamingo last week while hiking on the earthen levees near the Sunnyvale sewage treatment plant. "When you tell people, you see their jaws drop."

Where did it come from? Nobody knows.

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