Rare bird appears in Cape Breton

Andrew Rankin (arankin@herald.ca) 

Published: May 23 at 11:50 p.m.

MARBLE MOUNTAIN, N.S. — David Johnston had to see the painted bunting, widely considered the most beautiful bird in North America, for himself.

With camera in tow, the birder of 50 years wasted no time hopping in his car and hightailing it 40 kilometres away to Cape Breton’s Marble Mountain to see the tiny rainbow-coloured creature.

There it was, as promised, hanging out at a friend’s bird feeder. The trek from his Port Hawkesbury home on Tuesday had paid off.

“Just beautiful,” said Johnston. “First one I’ve seen. A lifer for me.”

It was a rare sighting, indeed.

The tropical bird, also named Nonpareil for their supposedly unrivalled beauty, was first sighted in Nova Scotia in the mid-1960s and has only been spotted about 60 times since, said Ian McLaren, an emeritus professor of biology at Dalhousie University and a Nova Scotia Bird Society board member.

A few of them are occasionally flung to our shores while en route to their breeding grounds in the southeastern United States.

“They set out from the tropics, subtropics, sometimes across the Gulf, and keep on going beyond their summer range,” said McLaren. “Often they get driven off the southeastern Atlantic coast and caught up by the frequent southwesterly airflow that brings us windy and often wet weather here in spring.”

Continued  

Twitchers' excitement over rare multicoloured bird spotted in New York

RAMZY ALWAKEEL 

Thursday 3 December 2015

A beautiful rare multi-coloured bird has rapturous nature lovers descending on a New York park in their hundreds.

The unusual specimen, called a painted bunting, has a dark blue head, a bright orange and red breast and a green and yellow back.

He was spotted in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and is thought to be one of only 10 seen in New York since 1927.

The New York Post reported “at least 100” bird enthusiasts were visiting the park every day to see the bird. 

“A lot of people are losing their s*** over this bird,” birding tour leader Doug Gochfeld told the paper.

Other birdwatchers were described as “ecstatic” and “shaking” when they clapped eyes on the brightly-coloured male.

Read on …

FWC: Help us find these rare upland birds

Staff report

Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 2:37 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 2:37 p.m.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking the public's help in locating three species of birds during their breeding season.

The Southeastern American kestrel, the burrowing owl and the painted bunting are "rare and declining species" often overlooked by other monitoring programs, according to an FWC news release.

The kestrel and burrowing owl are classified as threatened in Florida. FWC scientists say the painted bunting's population is declining.

The agency is asking people to use its Rare Bird Registry to map locations where they see the species. They also have the option to upload photos and comments.

The website contains in-depth information on the species.

FWC scientists will use the data provided by the public to identify breeding areas and estimate populations.

Continued

A Bird Like No Other Visits in Chesapeake

A male painted bunting in all its glorious colors is sometimes called a “nonpareil,” which means “like no other" in French.

You can understand the nickname when you see this photo of the beautiful bunting that showed up today in Bob Mislan’s yard in Great Bridge in Chesapeake.

“I have to admit I was stunned when I saw him at my feeder here in Great Bridge,” Mislan said. “He sure was hard to miss on this dreary, wet Saturday.”

Mislan said he wished his photos had been sharper but he was shooting through a double-paned window.

And he said he hopes the bird comes back so he can photograph it on a sunny day.

Can you imagine what this photo would have looked like, had it been taken in  sunshine, minus a glass barrier?

I can’t!

A female painted bunting is unusual in her own right. She is the only truly bright green bird you will see on the East Coast.

Painted buntings nest in the southeast and as far west as Texas and they winter farther south

But every winter a couple of wrong-way Corrigans will show up in the Hampton Roads area and often they will stick around for several weeks.

This year Bob Mislan is one of the lucky ones.  

Photos:  http://hamptonroads.com/2012/12/bird-no-other-visits-chesapeake