A second chance at the RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL!

I went 3 times to see this mega rarity, a female type Red-flanked Bluetail and I saw it 2 times. The first view was so brief I was unsatisfied and decided to return. I was glad I did because I had the bird in the open for a full 5 mins! I took young birder Liam Singh and Camille Faubert and Janice Melendez. It was excited to see Liam so happy after getting this awesome lifer.  This bird was a very painful twitch for me. I saw it first with Ilya when we went over on December 30th. At the time I had her in partial view for a total of 2-4 seconds! This was the toughest twitch I've ever been on. It is one expensive ferry ride and a long drive each attempt. It was freezing cold and the first day we stood outside for 6 hours straight. The second day, another 6 hrs and yesterday only a short 4 hours! The bird follows no real pattern and is unpredictable and skulky.  I have spent 16 hours on this bird and only came away with this poor record shot. I worked so bloody hard for it that I figured, it's one I really deserved and have to put up no matter how bad it is! haha

This is the second record for the province of BC and the second record for Canada.

This is also the 7th record for the ABA outside of Alaska and the current Idaho bird is the 8th record. Unfortunately, our bird is very camera shy, unlike the confiding Idaho bird!

This bird was first found on December 22nd on a Christmas Bird Count By Shayne Tillapaugh and is at Lazo Wildlife Park in Comox on Vancouver Island.

You can read more about this sighting at my other blog the BC RBA HERE

One tough twitch! Red-flanked Bluetail in Comox - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Comments

  1. michael winstonSeptember 5, 2017 at 5:00 AM

    nice work mel your dedication and perseverance paid off

    ReplyDelete

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