A Vagrant

[drmoss_ca]

We rarely see Cardinals in NS, in fact this is the first I have ever seen, and now she's come to take over my feeder and throw off the crowds of blue jays that felt it was all theirs!

[brothers]

She's got to be pretty hungry after making such a long journey. She was lucky to find the feeder, and you were lucky to see her as she touched down.

[John Rose]

SWMBO would be over the moon to see a Cardinal in our back yard, being originally from Illinois and all.
Nice catch!

[drmoss_ca]

We now have two Cardinals, both male.



And another rarity that generally doesn't make it to NS, a Yellow Breasted Chat:

[fallingwickets]

pictures are lovely...thanks for posting

clive

[jww]

As a boy, we always had Cardinals and Blue Jays around the garden in the winter months - especially the beginning of March. That was growing up in the Niagara Peninsula. Now in Ottawa, we are guaranteed to see a couple of either by mid-February. By far my favourite birds - mainly because I know what they are ......

[drmoss_ca]

This one is another newcomer who shouldn't still be here, I believe it is a female northern oriole (aka Baltimore oriole).

[John Rose]

This one is another newcomer who shouldn't still be here, I believe it is a female northern oriole (aka Baltimore oriole).

Good grief, were are you getting those birds from?
I'm maybe 20 km away from you, and we're getting hardly any birds of any description in our back yard. A friend of ours reports the same thing. Maybe only 5% of what there were a year or two ago. We're down to mostly just pheasants and mourning doves.
Could it be from the trichomonosis parasite?

[drmoss_ca]

This is still in Tatamagouche, not Amherst yet. Last summer I brought the bird feeders in when the trichomonosis started. Large flocks of goldfinches, redpolls and evening grosbeaks just disappeared, with a few sick birds trying to feed and dying on the deck. Threw out the contaminated contents and sterilised the feeders. Then nothing but bluejays and chickadees till the cold weather started. I think it's the feeders that draw them, as I don't know of anyone else here who feeds birds. There are always some oddballs around. Robie Tufts recorded in Birds of Nova Scotia that a pelican and a flamingo had been sighted here!

[John Rose]

Ah. Still in Tata. I see.
I've not see any sick birds (that I knew of) but I've been taking down the feeders in the warmer seasons.

"...pelican and a flamingo..."
And here I thought Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures were exotic (but fairly common now).