January 23, 2013 SIBERIAN ACCENTOR in Seward!!!




A small but dramatically colored bird called a SIBERIAN ACCENTOR, is creating quite a stir in the bird world. This rare bird should be in northern Siberia! Kit and Janet Durnil found the bird in dense alders and small spruce in town on January 22nd. I documented the bird  and emailed the photos to Buzz Scher  who identified it quicker than a bird book. It is so rare in North America that in fact, it is not in all the bird books. The Sibley and Kaufman field guides do not have it, but the National Geographic Field Guide and the Stokes Field Guide do. It’s the first bird in the index, “Accentor, Siberian.” It’s also the first bird in the app iBird Plus.
The owner of the house where it was found, thought she caught a brief glimpse of it in December. Kit is wondering too, if he might have seen it during the Christmas Bird Count. It’s very secretive and hard to spot despite its dark crown, yellowish eyebrow and throat, and distinctive black face mask. Hopefully, the birders planning to converge on Seward this weekend will be able to find it.
Dave Sonneborn called and related that 20 years ago, Larry Hood found 2 in Anchorage in October and then in the following March. A woman in Hope found one at her window eating dead insects and got a photo. And several years ago, another one was found in midtown Anchorage. At any rate, it's not very common in South Central.

The bird was found with a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW and a VARIED THRUSHat a feeder in some small alders and spruce at a red house at the corner of Second and Madison, 500 block. Hopefully, it will hang around for a while.

As always, please be courteous and respect private property. It is easy to see the feeders from Madison and the backside from Second.

The other rare birds in Seward, the Bramblings, have apparently moved to town from Lowell Point. They too have been spotted in the neighborhood and at the Alaska Sealife Center feeding on Mt Ash berries.

Congratulations to Kit and Janet!

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter













1 comment:

  1. Carol, I thought you'd find this interesting.
    http://epistleofjim.com/2013/02/19/true-community-is-a-rare-bird/

    ReplyDelete