The arrival of the fake tropical birds is always heralded with a sign to let the recipient know that "you've been flocked by the 40 fabulous flamingos of the Dartmouth band."

What sounds like a prank is actually designed for both fun and profit. People pay Dartmouth's concert band $1 a bird to have the flamingos set up on a loved one's lawn for birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones. With the help of parent and student volunteers, the flamingos come and go in the dead of night so recipients are sure to be surprised.

"We're very sneaky," says Susan Masterson, the parent volunteer charged with tending to the flock for the current school year. "You have to set up 40 flamingos without anyone seeing you. It's like toilet-papering someone's house."

Unlike the sight of trees swathed in Charmin, Masterson says, "It's a nice surprise for people when they wake up in the morning."

Masterson's son, who's in the band, helps her get the flamingos to and from their gigs. She's sent flocks out to quite a few events so far this year. On Oct. 18, a congregation hired the flamingos to celebrate pastor appreciation day. Another woman asked for 75 birds for her mother's birthday.

"It's a great fundraiser. It's fun, and people don't mind paying the money," Masterson says. "It's very profitable because there's no overhead."

Lee Weber, Dartmouth's instrumental music teacher, says the flamingos raise about $2,000 a year. This year, the money is going toward the concert band's trip to Disneyland in May, which will cost about $375 per student.

"I have help from the Booster Club, but we have quite a sizable budget we have to raise to keep this (music program) going," Weber says.

This year, 335 of Dartmouth's 840 students are enrolled in concert band, choir, intermediate band or beginning band. Students must audition for concert band, which is 76-members strong.

The band performs three concerts a year on campus and marches in the San Jose and Los Gatos holiday parades. The student musicians have been invited to perform at the California League of Middle Schools conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in March.

"It's a great music program," says Dartmouth parent Judy Gripenstraw, whose two daughters are in the concert band. "About 40 percent of the student body is involved."

Since the flamingos are sent out in flocks of at least 40, they're most commonly employed to help celebrate that particular birthday. But Gripenstraw, who cared for the birds last year, decided to use them for her daughter's birthday since they were living under her roof.

The flamingos have also done gigs outside the Dartmouth community, such as a birthday party in Saratoga. "Someone from Dartmouth had it done to them, and they thought it was cute so they requested it," says band parent Masterson.

Most recipients get into the spirit of the gift, Weber says, recalling a Stanford music professor who, after being "flocked," had photos taken of him "conducting" the flamingos on his lawn.

The full Dartmouth flock consists of about 100 flamingos. Weber says the school initially purchased 40 birds at the suggestion of a parent who had heard of an East Coast school with a similar successful fundraiser.

The rest of the birds found their way to Dartmouth as the result of a sort of misdirected migration.

"One year we came back from Christmas vacation and there were about 100 flamingos on the stage at the school," Weber says. "They were stolen (from a local woman), and someone thought they belonged to us and dumped them at my door."

Weber called the police, and the victim was briefly reunited with her flamingos.

"She ended up giving them to us. So they were donated, but in a roundabout way."

Dartmouth now has "inside" and "outside" flamingos, so volunteers can flock offices. The birds sometimes get flocked themselves—with fake snow—when students decorate them for the holidays.

The flamingos' popularity may lead to a rise in their status at Dartmouth. The school is organizing a recall election that could lead to the ouster of the eagle as its mascot.

"Some want the eagle, some want the penguin, and a group of us want the flamingo," Weber says.

But the flamingo faces some stiff opposition from those who wear the school colors during sporting events. "The boy's P.E. department doesn't want to dress in pink," Weber says.