© Dan Presser/Contributed PhotoThis photograph, taken by Don Presser of Carmel, shows what could be the world's only "documented" black flamingo, in a salt pond in Eilat, Israel. Other photos have been taken in the Middle East of what is believed to be the same bird.
Don Presser, 70, photographed what he said could be the "one and only black flamingo in the world" on a trip to Eilat, Israel, in February. Presser sent the image to Monterey County bird experts who identified it as a rare melanistic Greater Flamingo.
Other photographs of a darkly-hued flamingo in Eilat first appeared on birding websites last spring, and some sites also claimed the bird is one of a kind. It's unclear if what Presser saw is the same bird.
"I think there's only one, but there might be more," he said. "Let's put it this way: it's very rare."
Bird experts at the San Diego Zoo have heard reports of the melanistic - or darkly colored - flamingo, although none was familiar enough with the case to comment on it further, said Christina Simmons, a public relations officer at the zoo.
Comment: Another "rare" hailstorm hit Dubai on the same day.