A Western Visitor
December 26th, 2015
It's been an amazing few months for birders in Ottawa, with rarity after
rarity. Many of them should be well south of here by now--the Bullock's
Oriole, still hanging out in its favorite apple tree in Pakenham, should be in
the tropics! But so far, our exceptionally mild winter has been a blessing to
them.
This female Mountain Bluebird has also been around for weeks. Like the
Bullock's Oriole, she's a bird of the west, and apparently flew east (or got
blown east) when she meant to fly south. She too has a favorite spot: the
intersection of Century and Goodstown in Richmond, where she searches for
insects in the still-snowless grassy field, and eats berries in the tree
across the street. I took this shot from my car to avoid spooking her. (And I
can't tell if that's my camera she's tilting her head at, or a potential food
item!)
I worry for both of these birds once winter finally happens for real. The
oriole is probably stuck, as she will not be able to either survive dead of
winter or build up enough energy reserves to travel south. (Though people are
doing their best to help her by putting up orange-slice feeders.) However, a
Mountain Bluebird is more accustomed to temperate-zone winters than an oriole.
They naturally winter as far north as Colorado. It's probably not in her best
interests to stay here, so, I hope to hear that she swiftly disappears in the
coming snow/cold snap, and I will assume that she has taken the hint and
continued on her way.