The coast isn't clear for this rare bird, a Varied Thrush that typically winters in the conifer forests of the West Coast ranging from Baja, Calif., to southern Alaska.
So what's it doing feeding on the desiccated, frozen fruit of the crab apple trees outside the Minnesota State University Moorhead student union?
"I'd call this an invasion year," says Bob O'Connor, president of the F-M Audubon Society. "By invasion, I mean there might be four or five of these birds now in North Dakota and Minnesota."
The rare bird network is atwitter with news about the Varied Thrush. "Just about every birder in the area has been over to MSUM to see it," O'Connor said. "Last week a fellow from the Twin Cities drove up to take a picture of it."
For O'Connor, an English professor at North Dakota State University, it's only the third Varied Thrush he's seen locally since arriving here 15 years ago.
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"The one at MSUM is a nicely marked male in good shape, very colorful," he said. "We've had reports of another Varied Thrush in south Fargo, but it's not as colorful and may be a female."
Another has been spotted in East Grand Forks, Minn., and one east of Duluth, Minn., according to Internet rare bird bulletin boards.
"It's a bird of the northwest, so it's about a thousand miles out of its range," O'Connor said. "And it's beautiful, kind of like a robin but more colorful."
Walter Sizer, an MSUM mathematics professor, was the first to spot the rare bird on Jan. 14. "I thought it was a robin at first, that's what I was looking for," he said. "I noticed a few robins over-wintering on campus last year and I was out looking for them when I spotted the Varied Thrush. The black breast band gave it away."
The thrush is related to and about the same size as a robin. It has a rusty orange throat and breast -- separated by a dark band -- two orange wing bars and an off-white belly."
