British Columbia has a bit of a history with good birds being turned up by lighthouse keepers. We are fortunate to have a relatively new recruit to the birding community in Ivan Dubinsky, who is stationed at the Scarlett Point Lighthouse on Balaklava Island. The island sits 18 kilometres northwest of Port Hardy near the north end of Vancouver Island, and naturally this makes it an interesting spot with solid potential for rarities.
Ivan's first good score was a Tropical Kingbird last year. Today (September 28), he upped the ante with a fantastic bird: an Orchard Oriole! This species has been documented more frequently over the past 10 years, but overall there are still fewer than 10 records for the province.
The bird was still present on September 30th, the 3rd day in a row it was seen.
The bird has not been seen since Sept 30th.
Ivan's first good score was a Tropical Kingbird last year. Today (September 28), he upped the ante with a fantastic bird: an Orchard Oriole! This species has been documented more frequently over the past 10 years, but overall there are still fewer than 10 records for the province.
The bird was still present on September 30th, the 3rd day in a row it was seen.
The bird has not been seen since Sept 30th.
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The bright lemon yellow underparts and slightly-decurved, shorter bill point to Orchard Oriole (Photo: Ivan Dubinsky)
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Very nice find, Ivan!
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