By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce continue to dominate the headlines in the football and entertainment world. The birding community has been chasing its own star. Last week, an American flamingo was spotted at Chase County State Fishing Lake near Strong City and Cottonwood Falls. Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf said it's only the third time a flamingo has been spotted in Kansas, and the first time in 50 years.
"One of those first sightings is actually at Quivira," he said. "They had, I think it was multiple birds that were there in the 1920s. Strangely enough, one of those was actually shot and mounted. There's a mount down at Quivira of this flamingo that was taken there at Quivira."
Hurricane Idalia moved through the Florida region at the end of August, and it is believed that storm displaced many bird species. Flamingos have been spotted as far north as Wisconsin, Missouri, and now Kansas.
"I think at one time they were a lot more common down in the Everglades area of Florida," said Wolf. "In the United States, that's the only place you can see them. I don't think they're real common there anymore."
Bird enthusiasts have flocked to the lake in Chase County to take photos of the flamingo and cross it off their birding list. Wolf said the bird will not survive a Kansas winter, so the hope is its time in Kansas is just a brief layover.