Birders in a flap after rare gray-crowned rosy finch spotted in Nova Scotia | 24CA News
Birders from throughout the area have been flocking to Green Bay in Lunenburg County after a resident photographed a uncommon fowl on her property earlier this month.
Lynette Barnes stated she makes a behavior of waking up early to take a photograph of the dawn and noticed the gray-crowned rosy finch on Jan. 11.
The gray-crowned rosy finch is often solely seen in western North America, from New Mexico to Alaska, in accordance with the Audubon Guide to North American Birds.
Barrnes advised 24CA News’s Maritime Noon she first thought it was a starling and posted an image of it on her Facebook web page.
On Saturday, Barnes stated, she took one other photograph and uploaded it to Merlin Bird, a fowl identification website, which named it because the finch.
Barrnes then posted the photograph to the Nova Scotia Bird Society Facebook web page, the place it precipitated fairly a stir.
‘Mega’ sighting for birders
One of the folks excited to see the photograph was wildlife photographer Jason Dain, who contacted Barnes eight minutes after the photograph was posted.
After asking for permission to go to her and see the fowl in individual, Dain drove 100 kilometres from his house in Upper Tantallon, N.S., to catch a glimpse and take images.
Dain stated seeing a gray-crowned rosy finch on this a part of the world is so uncommon, it’s categorized as a “mega” sighting as a result of the fowl has “no business being here.”
“They are the highest breeding bird in North America, so they have been recorded breeding at the top of Denali Mountain [in Alaska],” Dain stated.
“I saw my first one in Montana on Logan Pass — which is about 2,500 metres or 7,000 feet above sea level, you know — on a snow bank in July. You really have to go to high altitudes to see these birds.”
Dain stated that is doubtless the one likelihood Atlantic Canadians should see the fowl, which might disappear tomorrow.
Blown by storms
Both Barnes and Dain speculate that the fowl might have been blown to Nova Scotia by a sequence of latest winter storms.
Barnes stated folks have been coming from throughout the area to see the fowl, together with one birder who drove seven hours from Moncton, N.B.
She stated she’s not bothered and is joyful to welcome folks desirous to see her uncommon customer.
“I joke that we own a wildlife preserve here with all the animals and the birds that show up and my newest version … is all these birders,” Barnes stated, including that about 160 folks have come.
“It’s been incredible. I’ve met some great photographers, incredible, well-renowned birders who know more about all of this than I do. It’s been fun, I have to say, and we’re very happy to have anybody come to see this bird anytime they want.”
