In East Hampton, New York, crowds have risen early in recent summers to catch a glimpse of Jay-Z on his early morning stroll among the shingled mansions of big names like David Zaslav, David Geffen and Ron Perelman.
But this season, the world's most successful rapper appears to have been snatched from the spotlight by a new star in town: a wild American flamingo that has been drawing crowds of hundreds in recent weeks.
It appears that it arrived last month in this affluent neighborhood popular with celebrities, the wealthy and tourists, and has taken up residence in Georgica Pond, a coastal brackish-water pond between East Hampton and Wainscott. The stray bird was first spotted by Cathy Blinken, a senior marketing manager at Amazon Web Services, who spends time at the pond with her husband, David Blinken, a cousin of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
Blinken quickly contacted the East Hampton Star, which dispatched a reporter and cameraman to cover the birds' arrival. In the days that followed, visitors to Georgica Pond hoping to see the birds for themselves were disappointed: The birds had flown away.
A few days later, a flamingo of the same plumage was spotted sunning itself on the shores of Massachusetts' Cape Cod Bay, about 200 miles away. The bird appeared to be one of those high-flying birds that, after exploring various summer habitats in the Northeast, decided that Cape Cod was better for it than the scenic grandeur of the Hamptons.
But on June 9, East Hampton architect Pietro Cicognani spotted the bird and called The Star, which quickly followed up with the scoop.
Jim Corrigan, an avid birdwatcher and former city councilman for nearby Shelter Island, helped spread the news of the flamingos' return. On Tuesday, he rode along with area resident Steven Spielberg to get a glimpse of the village's centerpiece.
As Spielberg drove, Corrigan led him down a sandy path surrounded by partridgeberry vines and a cove near the end of West End Road, not far from the former home of Calvin Klein's ex-wife, Kelly Klein. From there, the flamingos in the pond were easy to spot, not so much because of their distinctive plumage but because of their stilt-like legs that allow them to wade through the shallow water with the gait of a Louboutin-wearing supermodel.
The flamingo began a routine that looked like a jig: it bent its right leg, then its left leg, then its right leg again. Then it lowered its head into the water and used its hooked beak to dig up algae and invertebrates growing on the bottom. On the other side of the pond stood nearly a dozen birdwatchers with binoculars and cameras.
As the week went on, the number of visitors grew. Kelly Lyons, who was on a day trip from Westchester County, New York, said she was amazed and surprised to hear there were flamingos in the pond.
“Really?” she said. “Shut up!”
When a Hawaiian-shirted birdwatcher invited Lyons to take a look through his telescope, his wonder turned to how the bird got there.
“Have you taken a wrong turn?” she asked.
Jerry Lorenz, a marine biologist and research director at the Audubon Institute in Florida, said the misdirection theory is certainly plausible.
Lorenz said in a phone interview that the flamingos' arrival in the Hamptons may have something to do with Hurricane Idalia, which struck Florida in August 2023. Flocks of flamingos flew north to escape the storm, leading to rare sightings of the brightly colored creatures in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Most of the flamingos returned to where they came from, but it's not uncommon for birds to become disoriented or become separated from their flocks if a member is killed, Lorenz said, and a few mavericks may simply go off exploring, he noted.
“There are examples of flamingos that have remained alone for years,” Lorenz said, continuing with the story of Peaches, a flamingo who lived alone for years at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida Panhandle and rejected flocks until she made a friend after last year's hurricane season.
“And it went away with them,” he said.
Flamingos live all over the world, from the tropics to the Andes Mountains of South America. Flamingos get their distinctive coloring from carotenoid pigments found in the crustaceans and algae they feed on. Flamingos are hardy and muscular, and can fly as fast as 40 miles per hour, according to the American Bird Conservancy.
Flamingos often make the news when they escape from their usual habitat. In 1964, The New York Times reported on a flamingo sighting in Niantic, Connecticut. An African flamingo that escaped from a zoo in Wichita, Kansas in 2005 continues to make headlines after being spotted in Port Lavaca, Texas in 2022. Pink Floyd, a flamingo who escaped from the Salt Lake City Aviary, lived in the Great Salt Lake for a period of time each year from 1988 to 2005.
The Hamptons' flamingos have managed to establish a friendly relationship with a flock of sometimes cranky swans, longtime residents of Georgica Pond.
“The flamingos get along with them,” says surfing instructor Lars Svanberg, who watches the flamingos as the swans swim around them. “They all play together!”
Lorenz, who has studied photos and videos of the flamingos at Georgica Pond, said there is no need for immediate intervention by rescue groups.
“It's a healthy bird,” he said. “It flies well and is eating well. Leave it alone.”