Last Thursday, I noticed it was unusually birdy at Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary – hordes of goldfinches, House Finches, bluebirds, and other species were swirling around the big field north of the buildings. My rare bird senses were tingling – big flocks of birds tend to draw in other birds, including any lost waifs from elsewhere. Once I had a chance, I headed out onto the trails. Before I could get out the staff door, I saw sanctuary director Melissa Lowe on the other side, peering at something. She pointed to a yellow bird and said “who’s that guy?” That guy was a Western Tanager, the first one ever seen in the 96-year ornithological history of this property, and it sent me sprinting for my camera.
It turned out that education staffer David Shapiro had seen this bird moments before us just by looking out the auditorium window, where it was hanging with goldfinches in a sapling just outside. I alerted Cape birders on the rare bird chat group and within minutes a couple were on the scene. The bird was never again so performative, though I refound it once in some dense woods full of fruiting holly, cedar, and other fruity food sources. It was another hour before it finally posed for some decent photos, which revealed this to be a female – yellow, about bluebird sized, black wings with white wing bars, and an orangey bill. Breeding males are among our most beautiful songbirds with bright yellow bodies, black wings with yellow and white wing bars, and snazzy bright red faces.
In winter, Western Tanagers should have moved from the Rocky Mountain west to Western Mexico and Central America – this may surprise you, but they like to keep things pretty western. It seemed to me that they were becoming more frequent as a winter vagrant here in recent years, but when I checked the literature, it turned out they have a long history of vagrancy to the northeast, with the highest numbers back in the late 50s and early 60s. I find that remarkable given how many fewer birders, cameras, and ways to report birds there were back then.
Western Tanagers will visit feeders but have expensive taste – they typically prefer pricy hulled sunflower seeds. Away from feeders they are almost always found among flocks of feeding robins, especially in cedars. It just occurred to me that there is a class of winter birds that you could call the “cedars and feeders” set, and it includes bluebirds, orioles, and Western Tanagers. Don’t underestimate the importance of those fruiting cedar trees to birds – a cedar across the street from my house has been feeding a flock of 13 bluebirds plus a bunch of robins daily for a week. They’ve barely touched my winterberry for some reason.
I expected all the snow would flush a lot of interesting birds into yards and feeders but have only seen scattered reports of unusual feeder birds since Sunday, including a Brown Thrasher in Sandwich, a Baltimore Oriole in Mashpee, and a Fox Sparrow in Harwich. I had high hopes for rare snow birds at my house but the only new bird I saw was a measly House Sparrow. I suspect you people aren’t paying attention to your feeders – I guarantee that some of you listening now are harboring wacky birds in your yards since the snow fell. Especially double check those suet feeders and feeders with the pricey no-shell sunflower seed. Even the cheap millet mix can be a rarity magnet – those are the feeders that attract Painted Buntings, like the gaudy male visiting a millet feeder in Brewster since late November. So, with all this snow, it’s time to get your feeder game in order. But the next part is the most important – are you ready? It’s a super special expert ornithological technique that I’m going to share with you right now, and that is guaranteed to net you some rare yard birds – look out the window.
