Fowl play on the Neck

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 2/6/20

By JOHN HOWELL It's February, but spring is in the air and the birds are migrating. Nineteen Warwick Neck area families have already been visited by the flocks, and from what we're hearing they haven't completed their tour by any means. Who knows - maybe

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Fowl play on the Neck

Posted

It’s February, but spring is in the air and the birds are migrating.

Nineteen Warwick Neck area families have already been visited by the flocks, and from what we’re hearing they haven’t completed their tour by any means. Who knows – maybe Mayor Joseph Solomon and his wife, Cindy, will get the chance to see the birds up close.

No, we’re not talking about the return of confused robins, even though a few were spotted on Tuesday. Rather, these fowl are pink flamingos, jauntily attired in red Valentine’s Day ribbons with paper hearts in place of their eyes. They’ll be dressed in green for St. Patrick’s Day and, who knows, perhaps with bonnets for Easter.

Laura Williamson, whose son James is a fifth-grader at Warwick Neck School, has a hand in the migration of the 22 plastic flamingos. You might say she’s a head flocker and intent on making a special day for the school’s fifth-graders in a celebration of their transition from elementary to middle school. The event this coming June at Rocky Point will feature an inflatable obstacle course, t-shirts for the fifth-graders, lunch and a stop from an ice cream truck. The students will also get their yearbooks at the ceremony.

“To make this happen, we have to raise money,” she said in an email to the Beacon. That’s where the flamingos that she bought from Amazon come in.

Unannounced, six to seven of the birds show up in front of a house. It makes for a neighborhood spectacle and leaves the homeowner questioning why they were selected for such a dubious distinction. The answer is provided on a card draped on the neck of a flamingo with details of the school event and how to pass along the surprise to an unsuspecting friend.

To have the flock fly the coop is as simple as paying $15. But then, as Williamson explains, for $20 there’s the option of “flocking” someone else. Another $10 buys insurance to never get flocked again (well this school year, anyway) while flocking another.

Williamson and her two flock keepers, Sheba Karter and Joan Frappier, who are also mothers of fifth-graders, move the flock two to four days later. Williamson keeps tabs on where the three flocks land and whether the homeowner is guaranteed of not being flocked again. It’s likely the families of all the fifth-graders will be flocked as well as others in the school and teachers.

So far, Williamson hasn’t gotten any nasty calls. If they don’t get a call within a couple of days, they simply remove the flock and move on. She said the flamingos so far have raised $300 of the $2,000 goal.

Williamson said school Principal Patricia Cousineau suggested flocking when they discussed ways of raising funds for the fifth-grade event.

Of course, the flock will be at a Rocky Point event. Williamson may dress them in caps and gowns for the occasion, although they won’t be graduating. She plans to leave them at the school for a future fundraiser…whenever that happens.

Arranging to have the flock make a neighborhood stop is as easy as emailing Williamson at law7210@gmail.com.

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