Sulphur-bellied Warbler on Lundy Island
One handed a skipper £1,000 to ferry him to see the revered sulphur-bellied warbler, which had come all the way from Tibet.
Some skived off work and paid £120 an hour to hire vessels, while another drove five hours overnight.
Snapper Ashley Howe was among the few who made it in time to Lundy off Devon on Tuesday.
He captured stunning pictures of the brown and yellow bird before it flew off.
He tweeted: "Mega Views!! Sulphur-bellied Warbler on Lundy Island this evening. First for Britain."
It normally lives on stony, bushy, semi-arid slopes in Asian mountain ranges, especially in India.
One twitcher could not believe his luck after going on holiday to Lundy.
Darren Smith raved: "I told the wife to pick an island, hoping she would pick Scilly or Fair Isle, so was angry that she chose Lundy. Now who feels silly."
Another gushed: "I have spent years scouring the globe looking for this particular bird and it's a joy to be able to see it in the UK.
"It is an experience I shall treasure forever."
Expert Josh Jones, of Birdguides.com, said: "There's nothing bigger or more exciting than a new species for Britain.
"This is a huge find and totally unexpected."
Reader Comments
FWIW, I'd probably be more excited to see a painted bunting, [Link] or a red headed woodpecker [Link] both of which used to be common around here. (You want a boring bird to look at? Our now extinct dusky seaside sparrow was one. RIP, though.)
RC
flying about. My neighbor has a large bird-feeder and I think it attracted the hawk. No more hammering. I wonder if the hawk got my buddy. Certainly it would have been easy to find him due to the hammering. I was kidding about the rare Tibetan bird, but we do have what my neighbor calls finches who are all over the place and look exactly like the bird in the picture.
" Many people associate the pileated woodpecker with the “Woody Woodpecker” cartoon. . . " They sometimes do the ha ha ha ha ha.
RC
and it brought forth a tear...
"However, the article is about one lost warbling warbler soul"...
I MUST confess.. I eat chicken . not only that.. I also confess to hunting Duck, Quails and pheasants...
I have seen the light! even ONE, ' one lost warbling warbler soul".. is ONE too many !
LOL!
Sir, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.
[Link]
Also, be careful! There are actually some of those resurrected/supposedly extinct mega-pileated woodpeckers (aka, ivory billed woodpeckers) out somewhere near you! (E.g., [Link] I further think that they're downplaying their (what I recall as 'confirmed') sightings for fear of the idiot proles somehow fucking that up.)
If anyone tries to harm an IBW, . . . take 'em out!
RC
RC
I am thinking ' Cowbirds' are the key.. to your one lost warbling warbler soul .
[Link]
I raised him as my own. for 19 years. when I brought home a new wife... they decided to have sex with one another.
let me see if I can help you with this.
one lost Cowbird, warbling soul"...guys, I implore you! if she has a child by another man.. she is what she chose to be.
[Link]
I know, I need to chill on the young ones... but at times.. it is hard not to scream!
don't go there! consider what you are doing! before you do it!
RC
[Link]
big for the hawk, hopefully he just flew away and is drumming somewhere else these days. I used to watch the occasional hawk hammer a pigeon in the lane (our word for alley around here) behind my house, but the city put out food for pigeons a few years ago which rendered them unable to reproduce, culling them down to almost nothing. Then the hawks turned to wild birds for their menu.