A bird first seen December 4, 2007 and misidentified as a Orchard Oriole, which would be weird enough in December, has been photographed and properly identified as a Scott’s Oriole, the first record of this southwestern oriole in New York State! It is still there and Union Square Park should be busier than usual over the next several days.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Last year, just a month later than now, a Scott’s Oriole showed up here in southern Pennsylvania, to the delight of everyone who eventually saw it. The bird stayed until spring, through snow storms, ice storms and extremely cold weather–well, for a Scott’s oriole. The homeowner whose feeder the bird frequented was gracious to both birders and the bird, providing it with fresh strawberries and other fruit all winter long. Eventually most of the local birders had seen it one or more times, and even the non-local birders had seen it and stopped visiting. The bird, however, remained until well into spring. As spring progressed, its visits were less frequent, sometimes only once a week to check out the feeder. And then it didn’t return. It did so well, however, during the cold weather and afterwards, that we figured it just moved on or perhaps found a mate with a Baltimore oriole.
The link below is to my blog entry on the day I finally got to see this wonderful bird. http://roundtoprumings.blogspot.com/2007/02/6th-times-charm.html
I hope the New York bird stays around and as many folks get to see it as happened down here. Perhaps, it’s even the same bird.
Carolyn H.
Totally OT, but, you linked to my tour (kinda)! Awesome!