A rare find!

[squirl033]

A friend texted me this morning to let me know she'd found a bird in her back yard that she was pretty sure was a young hooded oriole. I went to her place (about 35 miles away) and got about a hundred photos... several other people showed up (invited) and confirmed, everyone is 99.99% sure this is a first-year male hooded oriole. Now, those birds almost never get north of northern California or Nevada; in fact, there have only been 7 verified previous sightings in all of Washington! This would be #8... my friend is passing the information, with photos, along to the people who keep track of such things - Audubon, the "rare bird" folks at Tweeters, and the ornithology folks at Cornell University. I was positively tickled to be able to share this rare opportunity, and get some nice photos of this unusual visitor, especially since only a handful of people will get the chance to see and photograph this little guy!

[gjtoth]

Congratulations, Rocky! Great catch!!

[squirl033]

Thanks, Gary! It's pretty exciting to be able to get photos of a bird so seldom seen in this part of the country... I talked to my friend this morning, and she said she hadn't seen the bird again since last evening, and she thinks it may have "left the building" and moved on. If that's indeed the case, I'm really glad I got some shots of it when I did!

[gjtoth]

Originally Posted by squirl033

Thanks, Gary! It's pretty exciting to be able to get photos of a bird so seldom seen in this part of the country... I talked to my friend this morning, and she said she hadn't seen the bird again since last evening, and she thinks it may have "left the building" and moved on. If that's indeed the case, I'm really glad I got some shots of it when I did!

Absolutely! Carpe diem!

[MacBook]

Nice captures!