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    Flamingo Fever, Limpkins on the Loose, ‘Mega’ Rare Terns—the Biggest Bird Events of 2023

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    For a lot of birders throughout the US, 2023 was pretty much as good because it will get. Rarities turned up across the nation, from a spate of Roseate Spoonbills in northern states to a Red-footed Booby greater than 100 miles inland in North Carolina. An Anhinga and a Black-chinned Hummingbird took a chew out of the Huge Apple, whereas an arctic-dwelling Ross’s Gull swung south to see Chicago. A few of this 12 months’s shocking sightings match into well-documented tendencies, like the continued Limpkin growth (extra on that under!) or the northern wandering of South American species in El Niño years, like the US’ first recorded Grey Gull (additionally under!). Others are outliers that mysteriously simply popped as much as shock ornithologists and birders alike—thrilling reminders that regardless of the place you reside, you by no means know what you would possibly discover proper exterior your door.

    As we put together to welcome a brand new 12 months, revisit among the most fun sightings and birdiest moments of the previous twelve months.

    SoCal’s Snowy Owl

    Southern Californians rang in 2023 with a really surprising visitor: a Snowy Owl. The arctic species can usually be discovered in the course of the winter in northern states and all through the Northeast—particularly throughout irruption years—however are exceedingly uncommon thus far south. The chook was first noticed within the space in mid-November 2022 and shortly triggered a stir. Hypothesized to be a younger feminine who dramatically overshot her first migration south (although some suspected an escape or launch from captivity was extra seemingly), the putting owl settled in an Orange County suburb, simply south of Los Angeles, for a number of weeks earlier than flying off in late January.

    Return of the Steller’s Sea-Eagle

    Scientists estimate there are solely round 4,000 Steller’s Sea-Eagles on this planet. If you wish to catch of glimpse of the huge raptor (females can weigh as much as 15 kilos with an 8-foot wingspan), you’ll need to journey to coastal Siberia, Korea, or northern Japan. Otherwise you would possibly strive New England. In the summertime of 2020, a single sea-eagle crossed the Bering Sea to Alaska and spent the next year winging east (seemingly even detouring to Texas). After hitting the east coast, the traveler settled down for 3 months in Maine, drawing crowds and towering over the native Bald Eagles, earlier than heading north into Canada. To birders’ delight, the Steller’s Sea-Eagle returned to Maine in February 2023. May the visits grow to be an annual occasion? It appears potential: The well-known vagrant, last seen in Canada, seems to be sticking round on the east coast.

    Flamingo Frenzy

    Arguably the most important chook occasion of the 12 months, a “Pink Wave” unfold throughout the US this September as American Flamingos blown astray by Hurricane Idalia confirmed up in shocking locations. Dozens of the long-lasting waders landed in Florida, the place they have been as soon as a fixture however haven’t had a breeding inhabitants since the 19th century. The leggy pink birds additionally turned up far exterior their historic stomping grounds. Flamingos appeared in at the very least a dozen states, together with a flock of 11 in North Carolina and five in Tennessee. A number of states had their first-ever recorded look of the birds, together with Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Whereas a lot of the storm-blown birds have returned south, some have caught round Florida, elevating hopes for the flamingo’s reestablishment.

    March of the Limpkins

    Though they garnered fewer headlines, one other tropical species additionally popped up in unlikely locales. This one, although, seems to be persevering with what chook consultants consider to be an ongoing vary growth. Limpkins hail, traditionally, from the neotropics, however for the final a number of years these brown wetland birds with mottled plumage have been edging northward, maybe following the unfold of the invasive apple snail they favor. This 12 months introduced sightings in Colorado, New Jersey, and even Nova Scotia, Canada.

    A tanager touches down

    There’s a robust case to be made that probably the most thrilling place to chook in 2023 was…Wisconsin! The state hosted the aforementioned flamingos and Limpkins together with rarities like a Painted Redstart and a Band-tailed Pigeon. However among the many greatest surprises was a sunny yellow feminine Flame-colored Tanager that arrived in Might, a primary for the state and much north of any earlier U.S. sightings of the fiery hued songbird, which generally ranges in Mexico and Central America.

    Tern will get high billing in Florida

    Massive-billed Terns—and their really astounding, must-be-seen-to-be-believed oversize yellow payments—had been noticed in the US simply 3 times earlier than this 12 months, and the final sighting was in 1988. That made it all of the extra outstanding that not one however two Large-billed Terns were spotted in different Florida counties on the primary of June, removed from their South American residence. At the least one of many birds determined to increase the holiday, with sightings persevering with into December.

    A Grey Gull within the Sunshine State

    Simply three months after the Massive-billed Terns visited Florida, one other South American rover got here calling. A Gray Gull scored some beach time within the Florida Panhandle, apparently holding its personal amid a crowd of squabbling Laughing Gulls. The seabird breeds within the Chilean excessive desert and spends the remainder of the 12 months on the west coast of South America; the Florida jaunt marked the species’ first recorded look in the US. Gull experts have suggested that northward wandering is particularly seemingly in El Niño years like 2023.

    One very misplaced auk

    Murrelets—family of puffins, Dovekies, and, sure, murres—elevate their younger largely at sea. The youngest Historical Murrelets take to the waves as quickly as sooner or later after hatching and spend most of their lives within the Pacific Ocean. Even so, the species is a daily vagrant within the inside of the nation, although the arrival of 1 notably out-of-place particular person in Tennessee this fall triggered a stir. The murrelet stayed placed on a Chattanooga lake for greater than per week, charming birders who got here to admire the auk.

    Irruption from the western pines

    This 12 months noticed a trio of pine forest dwellers roaming far past their typical high-altitude haunts within the western mountains. Possible attributable to poor pine seed crops, irruptions of Pinyon Jays, Clark’s Nutcrackers, and Pygmy Nuthatches led to sightings all through the United State and Canada. Most notably, a flock of Pinyon Jays appeared in low-lying Los Angeles, whereas Clark’s Nutcrackers have been seen within the Nevada desert, Texas mountains, and that 2023 birding hotspot: Wisconsin. Of the three, the Pygmy Nuthatch is the least prone to rove too far—however one particularly intrepid particular person made its technique to Saskatchewan.

    A southern neighbor’s first go to

    The Blue-black Grassquit is a typical species in its residence vary from northern Argentina to Mexico, even breeding a mere 300 miles south of the U.S. border. And but the small songbird had by no means been seen in the US—until this year, when an inky black male visited southern Arizona.

    An enormous week in Texas

    To not be outdone by the grassquit, one other first-time customer to the US. landed this fall in Corpus Christi, Texas. Till it was noticed downtown, eating its fill of local insects, a Cattle Tyrant had never been seen north of Panama. The perky flycatcher drew crowds, treating birders to views of its vibrant yellow stomach and even a glimpse of the sometimes hid scarlet patch on its crown. However that was simply the pièce de résistance of a whirlwind week of Texas birding, notably alongside the Mexico border: Days earlier than a Texan birder spied a Bare-throated Tiger Heron—solely the third time the species has been seen within the nation—and two Roadside Hawks have been noticed about 50 miles aside. Widespread in a lot of the Neotropics, the raptor had not been seen north of Mexico for the previous 5 years.

    Thriller migrant

    Slipping slightly below the wire of a outstanding 12 months of uncommon sightings, another extraordinary vagrant despatched birders racing to New Jersey this December. Pink-flanked Bluetails are identified to undertake lengthy migrations, however their travels sometimes take them from their winter vary in East and Southeast Asia to breeding grounds that stretch from Japan throughout Siberia and into Finland. The Outdated World flycatcher has reached the US earlier than however by no means additional east than Wyoming. Its sudden, stunning arrival in the Garden State left birders questioning whether or not the traveler had flown over the North Atlantic (perhaps even hitching a journey on a ship) or crossed the continent. We’ll by no means know, however that didn’t diminish the marvel for its many admirers who made their very own sojourn to New Jersey to look at the small chook flit by means of the leaves and bob its distinctive blue tail.



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