BRATTLEBORO — Birders across the region are all in a twitter over news a rare bird has been sighted alighting at a feeder in Brattleboro.
"Vermont has recorded its third-ever Bullock's oriole, currently visiting a private residence in Brattleboro," wrote Chad Witko, senior coordinator the National Audubon Society, on social media.
The last time the bird was seen in Vermont was in 1996.
"We are now up to a total of 38 or 39 people who've sat at our window to see the bird," said Prudence Baird, during a visit to the home on MacIntosh Lane she shares with Tim Metcalf.
The Bullock's oriole is indigenous to the Western United States, with a breeding area that stretches from Canada to the Rio Grande River and from the Pacific Ocean to the Great Plains. It's usual winter nesting grounds are in Mexico, not Vermont.
The oriole feasting on mealworms in Brattleboro is considered "a vagrant," perhaps blown off course by a storm, ending up in Vermont.
Once the word got out that Baird and Metcalf were hosting the rare bird, people with binoculars and cameras started showing up. And due to the hospitality of the couple, folks can sit in the warmth of their dining room and watch through a window as the bird pecks at the feeder just feet away.
"We are fine with having a steady trickle of birders in to observe the little fellow," said Baird. "How often do we have the power to help other people experience joy? Not very often. This vagrant seems to bestow a great deal of wonder and delight."
Metcalf said he's been delighted to meet so many smart, environmentally conscious people over the past few days.
"Birders are the most civilized, intelligent, peaceful people," he said.
"The birders are lovely generous people," said Baird, who moved to Brattleboro with Metcalf from California 17 years ago. "For the most part, these birders have thought deeply about the health of our environment and how to improve life for both humans and the creatures with whom we share this planet."
Baird said she'll keep inviting people in as long as the bird is visiting their feeder.
"It's a natural phenomenon. It comes to you and it's not really yours."
Witko noted this past year, Windham County has hosted two other rare firsts for the Green Mountain State with sightings of a Black-throated Gray Warbler in October and Hammond's Flycatcher in November.
BRATTLEBORO — Birders across the region are all in a twitter over news a rare bird has been sighted alighting at a feeder in Brattleboro.
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