Scott's Oriole in Union Sq. Pt. 2

I got up early for once and went into Union Sq. before work this morning to check out the scott's oriole that had been sighted. A small crowd of birders were there, and they told me the bird had just flown off a few minutes before, but it came back a few minutes later. It was high up in a tree right across from Coffee Shop, so it wasn't in a great viewing or photographing location.

For me, the best part was when a well dressed girl around my age on her way to work stopped and asked what we were looking. One of the men explained it was a rare bird and pointed it out in the tree. I offered her my binoculars, and she got a look at it, and said "well, now I have something great to tell my boss why I was late today!"

Here's my best two photos:

Scott's Oriole

I got an email from the Metro Birding Briefs that a Scott's Oriole has been around Union Square park all month, but only a few people have noticed and it wasn't reported until today. This is a southwestern US bird, and its range is Utah down to into Mexico; this could possibly be a first for NY state!

The report came from Ardith Bondi, who posted some beautiful photos on her website.

Ardith's photo:


I hope to be able to get there to check it out tomorrow!