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Search forRare flycatcher gets birdwatchers twitching
Saturday, October 11, 2008, 10:00
More than 300 twitchers camped with nets and lenses in a bid to capture or photograph the North American flycatcher.
The mass pilgrimage to Land's End in Cornwall was sparked after a reported sighting of one of two species of the distinctive bird.
Birdwatchers believe it was either an alder flycatcher or a willow flycatcher which have never been recorded in Britain before.
They live in North America and only migrate to South America and are considered one of the "Holy Grails" of British birdwatching.
The bird was spotted at Nanjizal Cove at the seaward end of the Nanjizal Valley – one of the remotest parts of the UK.
Bed and breakfast owner Michael Semmens, 54, said all his rooms had been booked out by birdwatchers.
He is also charging £1.50 for a car parking space in one of his fields at his Ardensawah Farm and has so far sold more than 90 spaces.
Mr Semmens said: "The scenes are just crazy. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I thought I'd cash in on the hysteria. Everyone is going crazy for this Flycatcher from America. All because of one little bird – but I'm not complaining.
"There must be 200 to 300 people here already and I've got 90 cars parked outside. I decided to charge for the parking just to cover the inconvenience.
"This is usually a very quiet, out-of-the-way spot, but all of a sudden it's just gone mad with people everywhere. The phone started ringing on Wednesday and hasn't stopped. People really want to see this bird."
The first sighting was reported on Wednesday and news of the bird soon spread across Internet birdwatcher forums.
Alder flycatchers migrate from the east coast of America to wintering nests in northern South America. Willows migrate south across the whole of central America to central and southern America.
The willow flycatcher – empidonax traillii – is a small insect-eating bird with brown-olive upper parts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts. It has a distinct white eye ring, white wings and a bill which is grey and orange.
The birds breed in thickets, especially willow trees, across the US and Canada, and perch near the top of a shrub, flying out to catch insects on the wing.
The alder flycatcher – empidonax alnorum – is very similar to the willow and the two birds can normally only be told apart by their song.
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Some of the 200-300 birdwatchers who gathered in droves at Nanjizal Cove to catch a sight of the rare flycatcher
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