A woman from a small Caribbean island helped raise a baby flamingo who, after a while, disappeared. Many months later, the wild bird flew back, ran right up to her rescuer, and snuggled her in a sweet reunion.
Animal lover Elly Albers, 54, runs an eco-tourism business in Bonaire.
In 2017, an oil spill in Trinidad and Tobago (the southernmost island country in the Caribbean) wrought havoc in surrounding waters. Authorities from National Park Foundation appealed to Albers for assistance in caring for affected birds so she began to help with cleaning and washing them. A year later, some locals arrived with a tiny flamingo, and Albers—who wasn’t even an official bird rehabilitator at the time—was suddenly faced with the challenge of rearing the orphaned bird.
However, unbeknownst to Albers, this was the first of many more flamingos to come. It was a steep learning curve with the flamingo, which Albers started calling “Baby.”
After contacting a few organizations in Holland for advice on feeding the five-week-old flamingo, Albers settled into her new role as Baby’s carer.
Since Baby was the only bird at that time, she grew closer to Albers, following her everywhere and even sleeping next to her. When Albers was busy she would keep Baby in a kennel.
When Baby reached four months of age and could fly by herself, Albers “soft released” Baby, which meant she was now able to venture into the wetlands around her home with the other flamingos.
When Albers drove around the island, she would recognize Baby and call her.
“She would come out of the water, running up for a hug,” Albers said.
For the next few months, Baby continued visiting Albers every morning until she suddenly disappeared for a long time.
“I was kind of heartbroken” Albers said. “I was afraid because they fly from here to Venezuela, and I was scared that maybe somebody killed her.”
One morning, after eight months, as Albers was feeding an army of flamingos, she spotted one that looked familiar.
“I just said to her, hey, wow, you look like Baby. You have bright legs. And she looked at me and she ran up to me and fell down on the ground,“ Albers said. ”I started to cry, and called to my husband, ‘look who’s back!’
“It was beautiful. I mean, after all that time, they still recognize you.”
Five years after caring for Baby, Albers now runs an official bird rehabilitation center, Bonaire Wild Bird Rehab, alongside a guided kayak and boat excursion company.
“We’ve probably rescued a few thousand flamingoes now,” she said. “We’ve had some rough seasons with a lot of flamingos coming in at once; sometimes five hundred in a few months.”
However, since Baby was the very first flamingo that she cared for, Albers said she has learned a lot from her. She now uses her insights to help other rescued flamingos.
The goal of the rehab center is always to return the birds back to their natural habitats.
“We do not keep birds in cages,” Albers said. “The goal is to release them where they belong, that’s really important ... I really do not believe in keeping birds in captivity.”
