Was a rare bird just spotted in Ohio for the first time?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A bird rarely seen in North America was apparently spotted in Northeast Ohio of all places recently.

A lesser frigatebird was seen flying over Sippo Lake near Canton, according to several bird enthusiasts and photographers.

A photographer named Alex Eberts was kind enough to share his photos with ABC 6. You can see them at the top of this page.

Another photographer named Austin Rice posted this photo on Instagram and shared the details of what he saw on the night of May 23 in Stark County.

If you don’t know much about the lesser frigatebird, a site called eBird.com offers this description:

The smallest of the frigatebirds, but note that the female is larger than the male. Adults are easier to identify than younger birds. Adult males are almost entirely black with a red throat and white spurs emanating outwards from the body onto the wing. Adult females have a black belly and throat, a white breast and hind collar, with similar white spurs on their sides. Juvenile and immature plumages are variable and are best separated from other frigatebirds by size when comparison is possible. Mostly silent except while breeding in oceanic islands. Strongly pelagic during non-breeding season but wind-blown or fatigued birds can be found from continental coasts.

Eberts said in his own Facebook post that the May 23 sighting in Stark County was only the seventh reported sighting of the lesser frigatebird in the contiguous United States. The bird is more likely to be seen near the Indian Ocean, the Southeast Asian seas, Northern Australia to Western and Central Pacific Ocean, according to birdsoftheworld.org.