Bird fans are flocking to Vancouver after a rare bird that is hardly ever seen in North America has made its home in the B.C. city.
Birder Ethan Moon discovered the rare taiga flycatcher on Christmas Day while he was visiting a park near the Vancouver Aquatic Centre.
“I noticed a small little bird hopping near the base of trees and lower branches and it looked off; I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Moon. “So I sent messages to a couple friends asking what it was and they were like, ‘taiga flycatcher,’ so yeah, first in Canada.”
Moon said it’s “surreal” that he was the first to see the rare bird and having people congratulate him for spotting it, adding he normally doesn’t travel outside of Canada.
According to Avibase, the world bird database, the taiga flycatcher was first discovered in 1811 and is known to breed in northern Eurasia – from eastern Russia to Siberia and Mongolia.
During winter, it is a visitor to south and southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, India, Thailand, China and Japan.
Where it’s not common is places like western Europe, so it making a stop in North America is even more unusual. The last known sighting was in California in 2006.
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While it’s gotten to North America before, birder Mason Maron told Global News he believes the taiga flycatcher may have migrated the wrong way, leading it to B.C.
“Sometimes there’s big cold pushes across the Pacific and I think there was one timed about right for this bird to get shoved all the way over, so I think that’s probably how it ended up here,” said Maron, who studies bird migration at the University of Illinois.
Maron said with the bird now in Canada, he expects it to “hang out” for a while, but will likely end up somewhere else should a storm or other weather system push him out from B.C. As to where exactly it will go, Maron said he can’t be sure.
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of birds in North America, so it’s pretty hard for me to see a new one these days.”
The bird’s appearance could also be partly due to the lack of snow in Vancouver right now, according to birder Quentin Brown.
“If we don’t get a harsh winter, if we don’t get a lot of snow, it’s comfortable here, it’s flying around,” Brown said. “This is a generational thing, it’s amazing. It is like once every 25 years, to actually have a first for Canada, a second for North America, it’s outstanding.”
Dozens of people have already turned up to spot the bird daily since Moon discovered it.
Moon said he’s hopeful more people will come out to experience this rare wildlife moment.
“I’m just so glad everyone gets to see it and enjoy the birds on this cold holiday afternoon,” Moon said.
—with files from Global News’ Taya Fast and Rob Colbourne
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