Words On Birds 01-23-26

     We drove up to the immigration booth and handed the officer our passports. After a short time he asked, “When was the last time that you were in Canada? “I thought quickly and said, “About 9 or 10 years ago.” He said, “That’s why you are not in my system.” 

 

     He asked why we are going into Canada and we replied, “To see a bird.” He smiled a bit, and asked, how long will you be here? “Just for the day. We’ll be heading back later today.” I replied. He handed us back our passports and said,” Good luck”.

 

     Had I had more time to think, I later realized that it was 2013 when we last crossed the border at that same Vermont crossing, also to see a bird. It was the Ross’s gull. I led an impromptu trip for the Brookline Bird Club to Montreal to see this rare arctic gull, that last made an appearance in the mainland United States back in 1975 in Newburyport. That was quite the trip, which I wrote about back then, and may repeat in the future for those who don’t remember.

 

     This trip to Montreal was for a European robin, only the third or fourth record in North America. This bird was first discovered in early January and had been seen every day since. Hundreds of birders and photographers had already traveled long distances to see this bird.

 

     It is much smaller than our American robin and, in fact, it isn’t at all related to our robin, which is a thrush. The European robin belongs to the Old World Flycatcher family, which is more reliant on insects. Found as far north as Scandanavia in Europe, this bird, like our robin, also relies on berries in colder weather.

 

     And cold it was. The high temperature in Montreal that day was 9 degrees! We had already driven five hours of bird-less roads (except for a bald eagle and a few crows and ravens) to reach the border. We then had to go over the Saint Lawrence river and through Montreal to its canal district to reach the bird, which took more than an additional hour.

 

     When we finally arrived, there were about a dozen people, most with large cameras, standing at the corner of a neighborhood block and peering into the only evergreens that were near. We donned our heavier coats and boots, got out of the warm car into the frigid temperature and walked half a block down the road to join them. 

 

     They were speaking French so we couldn’t engage much, but we also intently watched the area where they were looking. There were a few small openings in the tall, evergreen hedge and everyone seemed concentrated on those areas. 

 

     It was only a couple of minutes when I saw some movement and the bird appeared in an opening. I alerted Margo and everyone seemed to zero in on the little bird immediately as cameras started clicking away. The bird kept repositioning itself in the opening and finally sat facing the “warm” sun for all to see and admire. It was a small, gray and brown bird with a light belly and orange/red bib that extended up into its face. Its tiny bill and white eye-ring gave it a very cute appearance.

 

     The bird continued to move around a bit, and we watched it eating snow from the branches to obtain water. We learned that people had been putting seed, berries and fruit under the hedges to help it survive the frigid weather.

 

     There was other movement below the robin and we caught glimpses of a white-throated sparrow also sheltering in the hedge. It wasn’t clear that they liked each other’s company, as they were also competing for the food that was available. The sparrow was the only other bird that we saw there.

 

     Another couple of people got out of their warm car to join us when they saw that we were seeing the bird. Another man arrived, carrying his camera and tripod and Margo helped position him for the best view of the robin. She had already taken a number of pictures with her hand-held camera and we were both satisfied with the looks that we had.

 

     The bird seemed content to stay in the sunlit opening surrounded by the snow-ladened interwoven branches for added protection from the wind. We, on the other hand, were exposed to the elements and the subzero wind chill, so after only 20 minutes we decided to retreat to our car and begin the long journey home.

 

     On our way home, we stopped again at the border and an officer asked “What was your reason to visit Canada.” I said, “To see a bird.” “And what was the outcome?” he asked. “We did!” I proudly declared. He cracked a smile and sent us on our way home.

 

     There was no telling how the bird got to Montreal or when it had arrived. Speculation was that the bird could have arrived on a boat to port Montreal, or that it was driven there by strong Fall migration winds. It was a new North American bird for us and we were both glad that we made the trip to see this cute little visitor from Europe.