06 Feb The displaced chat of Lower Sackville

A yellow-breasted chat that somehow lost its beatings has been feeding on seeds, nuts, and jam set out by birders at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Lower Sackville. (Photo: Joshua Barss Donham. Click to view a larger image.)

The chat is North America’s largest woods warbler, normally a rare summer visitor to Nova Scotia. Its usual summer range extends only as far north as southern New York state. This time of year, it should be 4,000 kms. to the southwest of Halifax, in Mexico or Central America.

Wikipedia describes the chat as “a shy, skulking… bird” that likes “dense, brushy areas and hedgerows.” A robust singer, it is more often seen than heard.

Attempting to winter over in HRM has proven a rough go for this female. For the last week or two, she has been favouring one leg that appears to have been touched by frostbite. After the photo above was taken January 28, she lost most of her tail feathers, possibly because they froze to the ground on a cold night.

In an effort to nurse the chat through ’til warmer weather, Clarence “Birdman” Stevens set up a feeding station that visiting birders keep stocked with warbler-friendly food.

Pleasant Hill Cemetery has been birding hotspot this winter. In addition to the chat, birders have spotted at least 11 cardinals and a redwing (a european thrush-like bird not to be confused with the unrelated Red-winged blackbird that is ubiquitous in North America). An adjacent mall has been hosting another European visitor, a mew gull.

If you are anywhere near Sydney this weekend, don’t forget the harbour waterfowl tour which meets at the Walmart parking lot at 1 p.m. Sunday.