How did the scarlet ibis end up in Doodle's backyard? What happened to it once it was there?

I believe that this bird, meant for the tropics from south Florida to South America, was probably driven off its migratory course by the hurricane mentioned as having driven through Old Woman Swamp that July, 1918.  At least, scientifically, this is an explanation.  However, that this bird, with its slender neck and legs and its "bleeding" breast, should find that moment to light in and then die beneath the narrator's bleeding tree, only days before Doodle himself begins to decline and then ultimately die, speaks more to that element of fantastic and symbolic imagery that makes Hurst's "Scarlet Ibis" so memorable.  Doodle, in death, is a human likeness of the dead ibis, slender neck thrown back, slender legs crooked beneath him, his breast red with blood.