Rare sighting of Flamingo on Platte Island |31 May 2019

Usually, Flamingos are light pink to bright red in colour as seen in this photo from WTSP.com for comparison

“It was like being on Looking-Glass Island”

Many of us will remember the novel ‘Alice through the Looking-Glass’ by Lewis Carroll, being the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Those who have read the book will recall how Alice climbs through a mirror into a fantastical world where everything, including logic, is reversed; a world where chess pieces are alive, nursery rhyme characters actually exist, and running only makes you actually stand still.

This is the feeling explained by a local who, along with some of the workers on Platte Island, witnessed a rare sighting of a Flamingo bird on the beach. Interestingly, the bird was white in colour, as opposed to the pink colour that they are usually associated with.

This was about three weeks ago as the man, who has many years of knowledge and experience of the outer islands, and a thorough understanding of their wildlife and habitats, was coming out of the sea after a swim.

“As I was coming out, I spotted a Flamingo and at first I didn’t think it was actually a Flamingo. I looked closer and realised that it was. Everyone was shocked and thought they were hallucinating.”

Being such a rare and exciting sight, as many people as possible were called upon from nearby to come and see the Flamingo, with some managing to capture some pictures of the bird – evidence for their family and friends of a finding that could easily be brushed away.

While the interviewee that spoke to Seychelles NATION said that he had seen just the one Flamingo, he mentioned that some people had actually spotted two of the birds.

While walking about on Aldabra some time ago, the man says that he had seen Flamingos, but he didn’t expect to see one on another island in Seychelles.

“I thought Flamingos could only be seen on Aldabra, so this one must have been swept to Platte Island by powerful wind currents of the recent cyclone Kenneth. There was a feeder band from Tanzania to Agaléga. Platte Island is 600 miles from Aldabra and it is a very small island, so the birds were very lucky to find it.”

He explains that on Aldabra, the lagoons contain silt which have built up over the centuries, hence providing Flamingos with proper food and the nutrients that they require. Platte, on the other hand, is a sand key island, so there is no silt like those in the lagoons on Aldabra.

“This is why the Flamingo we saw on Platte Island is white (as seen in the picture) because it was not getting enough algae that it normally eats, and which gives Flamingos their pink colour.”

“I hope it will be able to feed itself on Platte Island as it is a filter feeder so it gets small animals from the silt for feeding on; I think it may die from not finding enough food.”

“Flamingos are an unusual type of bird as they have a filter system similar to whales that enables them to pick up organisms by swinging their heads back and forth and letting water flow though their bills; and that’s why they have such long necks!”