The tropical system that would become Hurricane Idalia formed just east of the Yucatan peninsula on August 27th. The system then meandered in the waters off western Cuba for a couple days before moving north into the Gulf of Mexico on August 29th. Idalia rapidly intensified into a major hurricane with sustained winds near 125 mph when it made landfall in the FL Big Bend area. Idalia continued northeast through the southeast US, passing through FL, GA and SC, and eventually moved off the coast of SC just south of the NC line on the 31st as a tropical storm.
Windblown birds will often get displaced by tropical systems,
especially storms that form in the tropics.
And just as anticipated, Idalia was responsible for a number of displaced
storm birds. But few would have
anticipated the single key displaced species for which Idalia would become
known.
On September 2nd this most surprising post came across the
NC Rare Bird Alert chat –
“Ten flamingos at Pea Island in South Pond!!”
Flamingos! A whole
flock of them! On the Outer Banks of
NC! Although escaped birds are always
possible, surely a flock of birds must be wild.
And immediately I started to wonder if they could have been displaced by
Idalia. Soon thereafter came a report of
2 Flamingos on the SC coast at Bulls Island in the Cape Romain NWR, which were discovered
on September 1. I’ve only seen wild
Flamingos once before – a flock of 16 at least a mile away off the Everglades
at Snake Bight Trail on December 8, 2008.
So I would have loved to go chase after both the SC and NC Flamingos. But the SC birds were at least a 5 hour drive
and boat ride away, and the NC birds were even farther requiring a 7-hour
drive. So I would just have to pass on
these ultra-rarities.
Often birds displaced by tropical weather systems only stay
a short time before trying to head back “home”.
But both the SC and the NC birds continued at their new locations
throughout September and into October.
And during that time more Flamingos were spotted at out-of-the way
locations throughout the east including in PA, MD, VA, KY, OH, IN, TN, WI, KS,
AL, and throughout FL. A few of these
had been banded in the Yucatan Peninsula, confirming the wild nature of these
birds, just in case there was any lingering doubt as to their origin.
As Idalia was forming in the tropics, my wife and I made
reservations for a vacation at the end of October at Kiawah Island on the SC coast. As the Flamingo reports started to come in, I
briefly wondered if the SC Flamingos might stick around until our
vacation. But surely the Flamingos would
be long gone nearly 2 months after Idalia passed through. Sure enough on September 3rd one of the Bulls
Island birds disappeared, leaving just one bird behind. But reports of that bird continued on a
nearly daily basis well into October.
Finally, as our vacation neared it was time to add a trip to Bulls
Island to the trip itinerary. With a bit
of research, I found information on the ferry service that takes you to the
island, Coastal Expeditions, and made a reservation for October 24th. Now I had to just hope that the Flamingo would
continue to stick around.
I combed through all the recent reports and it seemed that
the Flamingo was always being seen in Upper Summerhouse Pond. That was the good news. The bad news was that Upper Summerhouse Pond
is actually a pretty large lake, with several peninsulas and coves. As a result, only a portion of the lake is
visible from any one vantage point. Sometimes
the bird was close to shore, most recently along the dike on Turkey Walk
Trail. But other times the bird was spotted
at the far end of the lake a quarter mile or farther away. I figured I just needed to be thorough in my
search and I would hopefully be successful.
The 24th finally arrived and I was out the door of our
rental house bright and early. After an
hour ride I pulled into the parking lot for the Bulls Island Ferry. As I waited for the ferry’s departure I
checked eBird one last time - the last report from Bulls Island was from the 19th
and the Flamingo was indeed spotted that day.
I started chatting with the boat captain and he said it was spotted by
one of his passengers on the 23rd. I was
cautiously optimistic.
As we winded our way through the channels in route to Bulls
Island I reflected on my last trip to the island. It was back in May 1977, 46 years ago, when I
got species like Sandwich Tern and Purple Gallinule as lifebirds. This time I wasn’t looking for a lifer, just
a much rarer addition to my SC state list.
After disembarking from the ferry I headed right to the
Upper Summerhouse Pond. Along the way I passed
through some very nice woodlands that were quite birdy. But I didn’t stop, not only because I was on
a Flamingo hunt, but also because the mosquitos were thick and hungry! As I arrived at northwest corner of the pond
I did a quick binocular scan but did not see my target bird. Then a more detailed scan with my scope came
up empty. But I wasn’t too concerned – I
was only able to see a smaller portion of the pond from this location and there
were still several more vantage points to check.
I took a short walk down the dike on the Turkey Walk Trail
until I got to a break in the vegetation affording me a view of the main pool. Once again I did a binocular scan and then a
more detailed scan with my scope. But to
no avail. Far in the distance at the
southern end of the pond I recognized a row of power poles that were in the
most recent photos of the bird, but there was no Flamingo there today. Which was good news I guess because if so,
the bird would have been more than a quarter mile away.
So it was on to the next vantage point near the northeast
corner of the main part of the pond.
Distant scans of the perimeter of the pool still came up empty. Now I was really starting to worry. Would I be the first person to miss the long-staying
Bulls Island Flamingo? There were still
a couple other vantage points I could check, but they would require longer
walks and subject me to a lot more mosquitos.
As I stood there trying to decide my next course of action,
I noticed a bit of movement just beyond the thick vegetation at the edge of
pond quite close to me. I took a couple
steps to get a slightly clearer view of the area and there was my target bird –
an American Flamingo! The bird was no
more than 50 feet away! I slowly took a
couple more steps up the dike until I reached an opening in the vegetation and
got tremendous views of the bird. Here
are a couple phonescoped shots.
I watched the Flamingo for the next half hour actively feeding by immersing its entire head under the water. That was quite different from what I’ve seen in zoos when they would only barely put their bills under the water surface to feed.
I’m glad I didn’t have to wait any longer to get to Bulls
Island. As it turns out my report of the
Flamingo was the last one on eBird. So
instead of being the first birder to miss the Bulls Island Flamingo, I was the
last one to see it.
American Flamingo was #301 for my SC list, and my 541st photographed
species in the ABA region.
And now for a postscript for seeing birds displaced by
tropical systems –
I’ve had a pretty good track record of seeing rarities
displaced by tropical storms and hurricanes.
These include –
Hurricane Katrina – August 2005 – TN – Band-rumped
Storm-Petrel, numerous Laughing Gulls – Pickwick Dam
Hurricane Earl - September 2010 – MA - Sabine’s Gull and
South Polar Skua, First Encounter Beach
Hurricane Irene – August-September 2011
MA – White-tailed Tropicbird, Sooty
Tern, and 2 Jaeger sp. - Quabbin Reservoir in Central MA
VT – Sanderling – Connecticut River
in Vernon
RI -– Brown Pelican, Parasitic
Jaeger, Sooty Tern - Moonstone Beach
ME - Black Skimmer – Pine Point
Hurricane Arthur – July 2014
MA - Sandwich Tern - Plum Island
ME – Royal Tern - Hills Beach (both on the same day)
And now I can add the American Flamingo in SC after
Hurricane Idalia.
