BIRD BATH: Chris Evers saved this flamingo from a Westchester lake, then let it stay in his bathtub (above) until its owner could claim it. (AnimalEmbassy.com)
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He could have one-upped the neighbors with this lawn ornament.
A Westchester County naturalist was canoeing on Lake Kitchawan, near his home in Pound Ridge, last month when he spotted something of a fish out of water — a real pink flamingo.
As the stunned bird-watcher, Chris Evers, 39, paddled closer, he could see the flamingo’s classic thick, curved beak, long, skinny legs and red spot and black stripe on each of its pink wings, which stretched out to 3 1/2 feet.
“It was definitely scared,’’ Evers told The Post.
The nature expert knew the delicate bird couldn’t have flown off a lawn in Florida — especially because this species, the Lesser Flamingo, was from Africa.
He also knew that as the evening cold set in, the tropical bird would certainly die.
So with his fishing rod, Evers — director and founder of Animal Embassy, an education center that brings rescued exotic creatures to school and libraries — decided to lasso it with his line and reel it into the boat.
He took the flamingo home, filled the bathtub with water and let the bird wade in it.
Two of Evers’ staffers used information from an ID band on a leg to figure out where the bird had been hatched: an exotic-animal business in North Carolina. They contacted the place, which called the flamingo’s owner.
Within hours, the owner, who lived 15 miles away from Evers, rang his bell.
Evers was told that the 4-year-old flamingo had been missing for two days after flying the coop on Oct. 22.
The grateful owner, a private-zoo operator who asked that his name not be used for security reasons, had the proper state permit to keep a flock of flamingos.