October 22
Good Morning
Another cold one last night: -14°C. I imagine our surprise to see a Northern Parula listed on the Alberta Rare Bird Report this morning. This little bird (4.5” long) had been spotted in a ravine in Edmonton yesterday.
Not only is it rare to see one in Edmonton, it is amazing that it is here in October. It breeds as far east as Manitoba and is occasionally seen in southern Alberta. According to eBird, the last one seen around Edmonton was in May and June of 1985.
Connor and I headed out to see it. After looking for about an hour we decided maybe we should be looking on the ground for a frozen bird. We were lucky that Emily Gorda, another Edmonton birder, was more optimistic and spotted it. We were very lucky to get to see it and photograph it. As far as I can tell from speaking to various friends, there were people looking for it for over seven hours today and it was only spotted for about ten minutes!
Stay well !
