OBSERVATIONS WARBLER INVASION
We experienced an unprecedented invasion of Nor th American passerines this autumn, but what was behind it?
To fast food fanatics, 15 September marks that most quintessential of American delicacies – the annual celebration of National Double Cheeseburger Day.
This autumn, as New England diners tucked into burgers with relish – and maybe a little ketchup – 3,000 miles eastward, British birders were blindly unaware they would soon be savouring a more appetising star-spangled feast.
Over the next two weeks, the UK’s rare bird hotlines fizzled with a Nearctic songbird bonanza that will forever be billed as the ‘Perfect Storm’.
Forces beyond weather systems, perhaps best described as avian alchemy, conjured a spectacular of American wood-warblers, vireos, swallows and flycatchers too fantastic to attribute solely to the flagging remnants of Hurricane Lee.
At its most awesome, Lee was a Category 5 monster sprawling across 150,000 square miles of open ocean, an area nearly a third larger than the UK’s landmass, and generating winds with speeds of up to 165mph.
Other influences – an alignment of a moth explosion, cosmic electromagnetic activity and, maybe, extrasensory instincts – probably also influenced an event eclipsing the Isles of Scilly rarity extravaganza of 1985.
All those who found, followed, photographed or simply swooned over a final tally of 18 species of North American passerines, involving at least 81 individual birds, will forever remember they were there to witness history.
Keeping the fast food metaphor alive, the menu was delicious: the UK’s first Canada Warbler, second Bay-breasted Warbler, third and fourth Magnolia Warblers, just for starters.
As excitement simmered, Rare Bird Alert broadcasted news of 43 Red-eyed Vireos, 14 Cliff Swallows, six Bobolinks, four Baltimore Orioles, five Black-and-white Warblers, four Tennessee Warblers, three Buff-bellied Pipits, two Blackburnian Warblers, an Alder Flycatcher, and two other tyrant flycatchers that could not be identified. There were also a singleton Yellow Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Philadelphia Vireo and Veery.
Undoubtedly, the fallout’s epicentre was on Pembrokeshire’s rocky coastline, which not only took the brunt of Lee’s rains and gusts but also welcomed several passerine windfalls.
For Toby Phelps, who had planned a spot of seawatching in his home county as the storm approached, history was there for the making. After finding the UK’s third Magnolia Warbler on 20 September, he discovered Britain’s first ever Canada Warbler, close by, 72 hours later.
His joy was immortalised in the following posting he made on X (formerly known as Twitter): “I’m still in total shock
