For one flamingo in Cyprus, black is the new pink.

A rare black greater flamingo made news this month after it was spotted among a flock of white and pink brethren at the Akrotiri Environmental Center on the Mediterranean island nation.

The bird’s unusual plumage comes from a genetic condition called melanism, which causes excessive pigment to darken feathers. It’s occasionally seen in hawks and ducks, but has only been observed in a greater flamingo once before, in a bird filmed in Israel in 2013.

Flamingoes can migrate long distances, so it’s “definitely possible,” that the Cyprus sighting is actually the same bird, says Felicity Arengo, a conservationist at the American Museum of Natural History.

Conservationist Michaeline Moloney of