Rare Canadian oriole to fly thousands of miles back home on passenger jet

Bullock’s 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 Bullock’s 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 country’s capital in late 2015, prompting speculation that she had been blown off her migration route. “It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s 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