Bird fanciers have been flocking to Salmon Arm following a report of a rare sighting.
The subject of the excitement is a beautiful fieldfare, a member of the thrush family and native to Northern Europe, Asia and North Africa, says avid birder Roger Beardmore who, thanks to his wife Nan, was able to see and take photos of the unusual visitor.
The Beardmores and their good friends Peter and Sharon Lawless were taking part in the annual bird count on Sunday, Dec. 16 as they have done for a number of years.
The weather was dull and drizzly as the couples headed to their usual observation grounds along Salmon River Road.
They took a right off Salmon River Road on Branchflower, hoping for their usual good luck.
鈥淲hen we get to Branchflower and Crick Road, typically there鈥檚 families with bird feeders, which is often a good indication there will be birds, but there weren鈥檛 many birds,鈥� Roger says, noting there weren鈥檛 as many feeders as in past years. 鈥淲e were a bit disappointed.鈥�
The group carried on to the corner of Kernaghan and Crick Road where they noticed robins in a mountain ash tree.
鈥淲e got out the binoculars and Nan said, 鈥榯hat one looks different,鈥欌�� says Roger of the fieldfare that was among a flock of about a dozen robins. 鈥淚 looked through my glasses and said, 鈥榶eah that is different; looks like a robin, but has a stripy chest.鈥欌��
Thinking it was perhaps a juvenile robin, the couples headed back to their vehicle, underwhelmed by what they had seen.
But something nagged at Roger, who took out his camera and went back to the tree to get a picture of the fieldfare.
He didn鈥檛 think much more of it until he downloaded the photos and did online research, where he read about an 鈥渦nusual vagrant鈥� that showed up in Victoria one year. It was a redwing thrush, which is also a European species.
鈥淚t made quite a sensation, so I Googled red wing and right beside it was a picture of a fieldfare,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I thought that looks like this bird, a perfect match, so I sent the notice to Melissa Hafting, the provincial rare bird alert co-ordinator.鈥�
The fieldfare鈥檚 range is referred to as 鈥淣orthern Hemisphere Old World Europe, Asia and North Africa,鈥� Roger says, pointing out the bird breeds in the northern part of that range and winters as far west as Iceland.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to get a vagrant, typically it would be most likely to go to eastern Canada, although they do occasionally come across from Russia to Alaska,鈥� he adds, surmising this fieldfare arrived down the coast from Alaska and somehow made it into the Interior.
The rare sighting was recorded on an American Birding Association blog that set off a storm of excitement among birdwatchers.
Roger says visitors have come to view the fieldfare from as far away as the Lower Mainland and Seattle, and perhaps Georgia.
Despite the less-than-stellar weather, Beardmore says he and his fellow birdwatchers enjoyed the outing and recorded 30 species in their section of the bird count 鈥� eagles, swans, red-tail hawks, a northern shrike and other 鈥渦sual suspects,鈥� including pigeons, crows and ravens.
Meanwhile, Shuswap Naturalist Club member and annual Salmon Arm bird count co-ordinator Ted Hilary said Wednesday that, so far, 71 species had been accounted for.
鈥淭he highlight, of course, is the fieldfare,鈥� Hilary says, pointing out some 22 volunteers in four teams spread out over four quadrants in a 15-mile circle around Salmon Arm, a circle that was first established in 1971.
鈥淪tarting at the Tim Hortons at the top of the hill, we go east as far as Canoe, south along Highway 97B to the junction of 97A including Grindrod and touches on the west side of Mara Lake, south on Salmon River Road to the Silver Creek store and west to Ford Road in Tappen,鈥� he says.
The most prolific bird this year was 2,000 Canada geese, along with 1,200 starlings and 鈥渁 goodly number of robins鈥� 鈥� more than 500.
Also included in the count as of Wednesday morning were about 400 goldfinches, more than 800 pine siskins, some 500 Bohemian waxwings and, in another unusual sighting, four snow buntings were spied on the wharf in Canoe. And watchers saw one red-necked grebe, a bird that eats fish so needs open water and usually winters in Idaho, California, or the B.C. coast.
鈥淭his is a really good year for mountain ash berries so, depending on how harsh the winter is, in February and March, I think we will have lots of birds - wax wings, robins, siskins and grosbeaks,鈥� says Hilary, who is still waiting for more bird count information, particularly from those who counted visitors to their bird feeders.
barb.brouwer@saobserver.net
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