Photo: Northern Wheateater, Jean Jacques Boujot, Flicker CC
Rare Bird Alert: Northern Wheatear Spotted Off the Coast of Virginia
By Jessica Biggers
Last fall Kit Fechtig, an avid birder from Pungoteague, Virginia was birding around Machipongo, on Virginia’s barrier island, when he spotted a Northern Wheatear, a small thrush-like bird who is almost never seen in the continental United States. He reported the sighting to the Eastern Shore Post which wrote an article about this rare find.
Northern Wheatears don’t normally come through Virginia. The Atlantic Coast is not part of their route. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa and then make the arduous trek to Western North America, Alaska and the Yukon or alternatively, Eastern North American to the Canadian Arctic to breed. They usually travel farther north through Greenland or Asia to get to their destinations.
For such a small bird it travels farther than most bird species. When Northern Wheatears leave Africa to head for their breeding grounds, they either travel more than 15,000 km to reach Alaska or they head in the other direction flying 7,500 km to reach the Canadian Arctic. It takes about 2 ½ months for wheatears to reach North American traveling over Asia and around 3 months to fly back to Africa. They spend very little time at their nesting grounds compared to the 4 to 5 months they spend on their wintering grounds.
Wheatears from eastern North America fatten up tremendously while their western counterparts eat far less in preparation for their long journey. “If these birds were human, the rate and extent of fattening, and the physiological processes underlying them, literally would result in these birds being classified as dangerously obese and with type 2 diabetes,” according to an article from The Cornell Lab.
When Northern Wheatears are on their breeding grounds they tend to forage on the ground for insects, occasionally jumping up for an insect snack in flight, but they also eat berries. These little guys will generally raise one brood per year and the male will defend his territory by putting on an elaborate singing and dancing display as well as imitating other bird songs to deter predators from the nest.
There are some hypotheses regarding why some migratory birds end up in the wrong place. Some scientists believe that a bird gets blown off course. A group of researchers back in 2015 had a different view. Based on some research these vagrants might be genetically predisposed to ending up in the wrong location. Either way, it’s always exciting to spot a rare species. Something to add to your life list.
Sources:
https://www.easternshorepost.com/2019/10/04/rare-bird-sighted-in-machipongo/
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-wheatear
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410115420.htm