Another wing draws visitors to Tiree

The Northern Parula is a small four inch long warbler that breeds on the east coast of North America and is described as a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

It’s 18 years since one was seen anywhere in the UK but an RSPB Scotland officer, John Bowler, spotted one on the Argyll Isle of Tiree. It’s evidently a female fledgling blown far off course on its southwards migration down the American east coast – the species winters in the south of Florida.

It evidently had a few good feeds of the legendary Highland midges before heading westwards. sadly, Mr Bowler does not expect it to survive the trip. It’s too young to have the stamina to withstand and deal with the strong head winds it will face on its way back across the Atlantic.

However, the bird may have legged it but so have a flock of twitchers keen to see it. Tiree is said to have welcomed no fewer than 75 birders, drawn by the viral news of it presence on the island. One group from Yourshire even chartered a plane to get there.

If the weather forecast delivers the promised winds today, they may give the little Northern Parula a bad time but they will lift the wings of the wavesailors who have been on Tiree for a week waiting to compete in the 2010 Skykon Tiree Wave Classic.

Today is the last day of the event. It has managed only a single heat sailed early on and the Prizegiving Ball is tonight. If the winds stop playing hide and seek, wings of another kind will flash and dip off the white sands of the sunshine isle.

The have had a great week on Tiree, with good weather, all sorts of beach activities and great music gigs in the evenings – but they came to sail the waves and, fingers crossed, they’ll get out there today. We’ll have the news as soon as possible.

Ad we’re keeping our fingers crossed too for the safe homecoming of  rare and tiny Northern Parula that got more wind than it could cope with.

The photograph of a Northern Parula above is by copyright holder Badjoby and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.