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Well-known member
go to see the Baltimore Oriole in Oxford.
I had been straining at the bit virtually all week hoping the Oriole would stay in Oxford until today and thankfully it was still being reported at dusk on Friday night. I realised that potentially a lot of birders would be there and parking would be at a premium so I started early so that I could arrive about an hour before dawn. It was dry and relatively mild when I started out and I eventually reached the M40 where it became a bit misty, but still dry. As I approaced Junc 9, where I was to come off, the heavens opened up. It was still raining when I reached the road where the bird had been reported. Only one other birders car was there so I managed to park right by the road where the bird had been seen. Half an hour later the first of the masses that were about to descend on the housing estate arrived, and it was now torrential rain and very dark. Deciding that I had better get out of the car now, or I would miss getting one of the vantage points, I opened the door into an almost gale force wind with the rain lashing straight into my face, brilliant!!
Donning my so called waterproofs on I grabbed my bins, scope and camera and made for the area where the crowd was building. Within 20 minutes it had grown to about 200 and by 08:30 it was possibly between 3-400 strong. It was at that time that I became aware that my waterproofs were no longer waterproof as the driving rain had forced the water through into my clothes. I was soaking wet and every time I tried to hold my bins up the lens would become awash with water. Boy what a day to be out chasing birds!!
I've got it, shouted someone and stated that it was on the far apple tree in the garden. All of a sudden 300 or so birders tried to compress into the tight area that was in front of a gap in the trees a few of us were looking through. The light was horrible and grey and with the bins becoming soaking wet it became almost impossible to focus onto anything. Suddenly the bird came well into view and I managed about a 30 second look at a bird that was flitting about amongst a few Goldfinches. It was substantially bigger than the finches but because of the combination of bad light and driving rain I was not happy at what I was looking at. I couldn't make out the colours, or the beak of the bird at all.
It flew to the left and out of sight and a groan went up from quite a few birders that were in the wrong position to see the bird. The rain wasn't letting up but I decided to wait to see if I could get a better view. I was fairly sure that It was the Oriole I had seen but I just wanted to make absolutely sure. For the next hour more birders arrived and about 08:50 the owner of the garden said we could go into the garden to wait for the bird if we wanted to. (I think you had to give a donation to go in). There was no way that everyone could get in there so I was one of a hundred or more that stayed out in the road.
At about 09:30 the same chap that had spotted it before found it again. It was at the lower point of the apple tree but out of sight from my position, plus birders that were in the garden were standing proud of the garden wall and hindering most of the lower views to all of us out in the road. Thankfully the bird flew higher onto a thin Silver Birch and showed itself exceptionally well. Well enough to see the orangish colours of the chest area and the longish sharp beak of the Oriole. Try as I did I couldn't get any pictures due to bad light, driving rain and windy conditions, plus by now the bird had perched on a small branch directly behind the tree trunk. Still I had seen my target bird. I am now hoping it will stay around for the new year. If it does my next request would be for a bright sunny, windless day and a very co-operative bird that stands still, on a branch, well in view with no obstacles in the way.
That is my first wish of the new year. Do you think it will happen??
I had been straining at the bit virtually all week hoping the Oriole would stay in Oxford until today and thankfully it was still being reported at dusk on Friday night. I realised that potentially a lot of birders would be there and parking would be at a premium so I started early so that I could arrive about an hour before dawn. It was dry and relatively mild when I started out and I eventually reached the M40 where it became a bit misty, but still dry. As I approaced Junc 9, where I was to come off, the heavens opened up. It was still raining when I reached the road where the bird had been reported. Only one other birders car was there so I managed to park right by the road where the bird had been seen. Half an hour later the first of the masses that were about to descend on the housing estate arrived, and it was now torrential rain and very dark. Deciding that I had better get out of the car now, or I would miss getting one of the vantage points, I opened the door into an almost gale force wind with the rain lashing straight into my face, brilliant!!
Donning my so called waterproofs on I grabbed my bins, scope and camera and made for the area where the crowd was building. Within 20 minutes it had grown to about 200 and by 08:30 it was possibly between 3-400 strong. It was at that time that I became aware that my waterproofs were no longer waterproof as the driving rain had forced the water through into my clothes. I was soaking wet and every time I tried to hold my bins up the lens would become awash with water. Boy what a day to be out chasing birds!!
I've got it, shouted someone and stated that it was on the far apple tree in the garden. All of a sudden 300 or so birders tried to compress into the tight area that was in front of a gap in the trees a few of us were looking through. The light was horrible and grey and with the bins becoming soaking wet it became almost impossible to focus onto anything. Suddenly the bird came well into view and I managed about a 30 second look at a bird that was flitting about amongst a few Goldfinches. It was substantially bigger than the finches but because of the combination of bad light and driving rain I was not happy at what I was looking at. I couldn't make out the colours, or the beak of the bird at all.
It flew to the left and out of sight and a groan went up from quite a few birders that were in the wrong position to see the bird. The rain wasn't letting up but I decided to wait to see if I could get a better view. I was fairly sure that It was the Oriole I had seen but I just wanted to make absolutely sure. For the next hour more birders arrived and about 08:50 the owner of the garden said we could go into the garden to wait for the bird if we wanted to. (I think you had to give a donation to go in). There was no way that everyone could get in there so I was one of a hundred or more that stayed out in the road.
At about 09:30 the same chap that had spotted it before found it again. It was at the lower point of the apple tree but out of sight from my position, plus birders that were in the garden were standing proud of the garden wall and hindering most of the lower views to all of us out in the road. Thankfully the bird flew higher onto a thin Silver Birch and showed itself exceptionally well. Well enough to see the orangish colours of the chest area and the longish sharp beak of the Oriole. Try as I did I couldn't get any pictures due to bad light, driving rain and windy conditions, plus by now the bird had perched on a small branch directly behind the tree trunk. Still I had seen my target bird. I am now hoping it will stay around for the new year. If it does my next request would be for a bright sunny, windless day and a very co-operative bird that stands still, on a branch, well in view with no obstacles in the way.
That is my first wish of the new year. Do you think it will happen??
Then it's just a question of whether it survives.
