Rare Canadian oriole to fly thousands of miles back home on passenger jet
Bullocks oriole who ended up in Ottawa to fly home on Air Canada flight
Small orange-plumed female first spotted in capital in late 2015
Ashifa Kassam in Toronto
@ashifa_k
Tuesday 15 August 2017 14.25 EDT
Nearly two years ago, she was spotted perched on an apple tree in Ontario thousands of miles from her natural habitat capturing the attention of birdwatchers across Canada.
Now a Bullocks oriole who ended up in the Ottawa area is set to finally fly home to western North America in the passenger cabin of an Air Canada flight.
The small orange-plumed female was first spotted near the countrys capital in late 2015, prompting speculation that she had been blown off her migration route. Its absolutely fantastic. Its been mind-boggling, Ray Holland, who first noticed the oriole, told the CBC, as hundreds of birdwatchers travelled to the area to catch a glimpse.
Weeks later Holland found the bird lying in the snow, seemingly weakened by a bout of freezing temperatures. The bird was brought to the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre, where vets found the female had lost a toenail to frostbite and was battling dehydration and hypothermia.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/15/canadian-oriole-bird-ottawa-british-columbia#img-1