http://newsminer.com/2007/11/01/9651/

European finch shows up in Shageluk

By Tim Mowry

Published November 1, 2007

Shageluk schoolteacher Joy Hamilton has been teaching her students about the wonders of bird migration and the effect of global warming for more than a decade.

But Hamilton and her students recently got a bird’s-eye view of how things can go astray in nature when a brambling, a common finch in northern Europe and Asia, showed up last week at Hamilton’s bird feeder in the small village on the Innoko River, about 350 miles southwest of Fairbanks.

“I was like, ‘Gee, what the heck kind of bird is this?’” Hamilton said by phone from Shageluk on Tuesday. “I knew it was some kind of finch based on finch characteristics, but I’d never seen one so brightly colored orange before.”

Hamilton doesn’t necessarily describe herself as a “birder” — “I don’t wear binocs and or a floppy hat” — but said she likes to feed birds and has several bird identification books. But she couldn’t find a similar bird to the one at her feeder in any of her guide books.

“I looked through all my bird books and couldn’t ID it,” she said.

So Hamilton took some digital photos of the bird and e-mailed them to the Alaska Bird Observatory in Fairbanks, where biologist Susan Sharbaugh quickly confirmed that it was indeed a brambling.

Similar in size and shape to a black-capped chickadee, bramblings are easily identifiable by their orange breasts and complex patterns of black, orange and white on their wings.

The birds typically winter in southern Europe, north Africa, northern Pakistan, north India, China and Japan but regularly stray into Alaska during migration and have been seen as far south as the western United States.

While flocks of up to 100 bramblings occasionally show up on the western Aleutian Islands there have been only four sightings on mainland Alaska — in Anchorage, Homer, on Kodiak Island and in Petersburg in Southeast. All four of those places are located on the coast. Shageluk is 200 miles inland.

“It’s very interesting that a bird was found in Shageluk,” said Dan Gibson, ornithology curator at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. “They’ve never been reported inland in Alaska; they’ve all been on the coast.”

While the bird isn’t necessarily considered rare in Alaska, Sharbaugh said its visit to Shageluk is “very cool.”

Hamilton first spotted the brambling at her feeder on Oct. 23 and it was still hanging out at her feeder as of Tuesday. She’s “humbled” and “honored” to play host to the bird, she said.

“It’s a beautiful little bird,” Hamilton said.

It also offered her a chance to illustrate to her students how things can get out of whack in nature.

Her students have been involved in global citizen science programs like Project FeederWatch, Journey North and the GLOBE program for several years.

They count birds, measure ice thickness and record snow depths, among other projects, to help them understand the changes occurring in the environment.

“Having a dizzy little bird at our feeder from Europe kind of fits in with the whole climate change discussion,” she said.

Gibson speculates that the bird reached the west coast of Alaska during the fall migration and ventured up the Yukon River rather than follow the coast south.

A similar scenario occurred several years ago when a Eurasian bullfinch showed up at a feeder in Fairbanks and caused a ruckus among Alaska birders, he said.

The bird at Hamilton’s feeder could hang out in Shageluk all winter if it doesn’t get eaten by a predator, Gibson said.

“They’re pretty tough birds and they’re used to winter,” he said. “It could spend the whole winter there if there’s adequate food and cover.

Contact staff Writer Tim Mowry at 459-7587.

This bird is widespread throughout the forests of northern Europe and Asia. It is migratory, wintering in southern Europe, north Africa, Northern Pakistan, north India, China and Japan. It regularly strays into Alaska during migration and may continue as far south as the western United States.

Open coniferous or birch woodland is favoured for breeding. It builds its nest in a tree fork, and decorates the exterior with moss or lichen to make it less conspicuous. It lays 4-9 eggs.

This species can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with Chaffinches. These large gathering occur especially if there is a good supply of Beech nuts. The food is seeds, but unlike most finches, the young are fed extensively on insects.

It is similar in size and shape to a Chaffinch, but has a pale rump and lacks white outer tail feathers. It has dark back, orange breast and whitish belly. The large double wing bars are orange or white. The breeding male is unmistakable, with his orange underparts and black head and back. ~Wikipedia~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brambling