Tiny bird causes euphoria among twitchers

11:36 Monday, 10 October 2016 | Written by Hans J Marter 

BIRD WATCHERS from across the country are on their way to Shetland to catch a rare glimpse of a Siberian accentor, the first ever recorded in Britain.

The tiny bird was discovered at Mossy Hill, near Scousburgh, on Sunday afternoon by Shetland Wildlife guides Judd Hunt and Hugh Harrop.

"We were just checking the quarry at Mossy Hill, which is good for migrants now and then, when Judd set eyes on this bird and got very excited," Harrop described the moment they realised the "magnitude" of their discovery.

"Judd said 'I think I got a Siberian accentor'," Harrop continued. "It was total euphoria; we were both physically shaking."

The news soon made its way around the bird-watching community and by Monday morning around 100 twitchers were flocking to the site.

Among them was Britain's top bird watcher Steve Gantlett, from Norfolk, who arrived in Shetland on Monday morning after driving overnight to Aberdeen to catch the first flight north.

Harrop said the recent calm weather with steady easterly winds has been "producing lots of good birds".

"With any rare bird there is always an element of luck and pure chance," he said, "however the Siberian accentor is one of those birds that is on your radar as a bird watcher

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Birders flock to Surrey farmland for rare Asian bird

Birders from around the continent are taking flight to an obscure patch of South Surrey farmland to see a striking little bird that belongs in Asia — the Siberian Accentor. 

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun

METRO VANCOUVER -- Birders from around the continent are taking flight to a patch of south Surrey farmland to see a striking little bird that belongs in Asia — the Siberian Accentor.

“This particular bird is in an easily accessible area,” George Clulow, president of B.C. Field Ornithologists, said in an interview Friday.

“People can easily fly in, which is what they’ve been doing from all over North America. I was standing next to people from Massachusetts, California, Florida, Minnesota.”

There are only six or seven recorded sightings of the wayward bird in B.C., Clulow noted. Normally it is found in Southeast Asia and breeds across Siberia.

Clulow first spotted the Siberian Accentor with fellow birder Mandy Lu on Jan. 3 during the annual Christmas Bird Count, an event that forces birders to look in unusual and less-visited areas to help pump up their counts.

They were in an agricultural area on 160th Street when he noticed small birds flying in a blueberry field. “I turned around and saw this bird for a split second perched in a blueberry shrub,” he recalled.

“It dropped down and we couldn’t find it. It was a bird I’d never seen before — sparrow-sized but with a striking head pattern (featuring dark and rust stripes).”

That evening at home he pulled out a reference book, Rare Birds of North America, and there on the cover was a photograph of the Siberian Accentor. “That’s it. That made it easier.”

He returned three days later and after four hours had a good sighting of the bird, snapped a few photos to confirm identification and posted it on the Internet. “It just went viral from there,” he said. “It’s a rare bird.”

The bird has remained at the site ever since, with continued sightings this week. It is often seen feeding on the ground with dark-eyed juncos.

To reach the site head east on No. 10 Highway toward Cloverdale, turn right (south) on 160th Street, cross the railway tracks and look for the birders.

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Rare birds becoming common sight — Siberian Accentor, bramblings visit Kenai Peninsula

By Joseph Robertia

Photos courtesy of Carol Griswold. A Siberian Accentor — a small bird with a brown-streaked back and yellowish eyebrows and underparts — showed up in Seward late last month.

Wikipedia

Redoubt Reporter

While lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, an equally unusual occurrence has been happening on the Kenai Peninsula this winter as not just one, but two more rare bird sightings have taken place in a winter already marked by a number of odd avian identifications.

A Siberian Accentor — a small bird with a brown-streaked back and yellowish eyebrows and underparts — showed up in Seward late last month, while several small groups of bramblings — long-winged, long-tailed birds with orange to their breasts and shoulders — have been seen in not just Seward, but several other locations, since their November arrival.

“The Siberian Accentor is really exciting. The last observation of one was in Hope back about 20 years ago, so this is a big deal,” said Ken Tarbox, of the Keen Eye Birders, a retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, and one of the organizers of the Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail Guide.

Seward birders Kit and Janet Durnil first spotted the Siberian Accentor on Jan. 22. They knew they had never seen a bird with a mask like the accentor, but they weren’t entirely sure what they were seeing. They called Carol Griswold, an avid Seward birder who leads bird-watching trips to see unusual species, such as this.

Griswold said that the bird has been a little tricky to spot. It’s been moving a bit and also traveling with other birds, including varied thrush and fox, golden-crowned, white-crowned and song sparrows.

Continued:  http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/rare-birds-becoming-common-sight-siberian-accentor-bramblings-visit-kenai-peninsula/