Hi All

Just thought I would pass this along.

Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC


American oriole wings its way across Atlantic to Baltimore, Ireland

The Associated Press



DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) The birdwatchers of Ireland were atwitter
Tuesday after spotting a Baltimore oriole in a seaside village named
Baltimore.

"This is the first-ever sighting of a Baltimore oriole in Ireland.
It's made an astonishing journey," said Birdwatch Ireland's Dick
Coombes, who drove for six hours Sunday after getting frantic calls
from friends who'd seen the bird.

Coombes speculated that the oriole got caught in a storm while trying
to migrate south, ended up in the jet stream, and struggled to dry
Irish land after spotting a lighthouse near Baltimore in remote West
Cork, at the southwest corner of the country.

About 50 birdwatchers have spent the past few days monitoring the
bird's movements in and about Baltimore. Among them is a carload of
Britons who caught a ferry from Wales 400 miles to the east once
they'd heard about the sighting.

"I ran like the clappers when I heard someone shout up the hill
they'd seen the wee fella," said Coombes, who stayed overnight in
Baltimore. "We got some magnificent views when he came out to feed
on blackthorn berries. The oohing and ahhing going on was something
else."

Every autumn birdwatchers congregate on the west coasts of England,
Wales and Ireland in search of lone North American arrivals blown
badly off course during migration. Canadian geese and sandpipers
make regular appearances, but songbirds rarely survive a crossing
exceeding 3,000 miles.

Mike Everett of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
said a lone Baltimore oriole was spotted in England about a decade
ago.

"We've just had a sighting of an American gray catbird which is
causing something of a sensation in Wales," he added. "These
arrivals are one of the great mysteries of bird migration."

The accidental tourists stand no chance of returning to North
America, given prevailing winds. Both Everett and Coombes predicted
that Ireland's temporary Baltimore oriole would try to migrate to
West Africa this winter, mistaking it for South America.

"I expect him to wait for calm weather, then he'll be off," said
Coombes. "Until then we'll just have to keep drinking it in, then
file it in our brains as a beautiful memory."

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