It's not the eggnog.

You may have actually seen flamingos on the Alabama coast.

Earlier this month, photos of the birds in Alabama began appearing in local Facebook groups. Their bright pink feathers were impossible to miss against the dark water behind them.

Local wildlife officials said the sighting isn't actually rare.

"It's unusual, but it's definitely not the first time," explained a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries in Baldwin County.

He said flamingos are carried by the wind when they travel, and where the winds go, they go. Hence, sometimes they land in Alabama. Flamingos have been found as far north as Wisconsin.

Flamingos have also appeared in Baldwin County after several tropical storms, carried here by the swirling breeze.

"What's curious with this is these birds keep popping up in various odd places. Who's to say if it is the same birds," he said.

Bird watchers can report their rare, feathered findings in a national, online community data base called ebird.org.

There users can type in the type of bird or a region and either report a bird sighting or review the other sightings.

No flamingos were reported in Alabama on the site in early December. The wildlife officials said that only means no bird watcher entered them, not that they never appeared.

Flamingos generally coast across the Caribbean and southern Florida though sightings in the panhandle are numerous.

Even if they are blown off course far north, the birds will wander back home eventually.

"We have a lot of really neat birds here in Baldwin County year-round," the official said. "To see something unusual is always a nice treat."