As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday, 4 January 2013

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.  


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