SCARLET TANAGER-NORTHOWRAM-WEST YORKSHIRE-13th November 2024

News broke late on sunday after a homeowner photographed a strange yellow-and-black bird on their washing line,the photographs were posted on Facebook.

The bird was a Scarlet Tanager,a first-winter male and it transpired that it had been present since the start of the week.News then broke on where the bird was,a place called Shelf in West Yorkshire.

I was in work on Monday so had to wait until Tuesday to visit the site.I woke up Monday morning and whilst in work the news broke that the Scarlet Tanager had been found again.The bird was present allday and the Whats app groups were gripping me off of photographs of the bird!

In 2011 I had left the Isles Of Scilly whilst on hoilday for a Scarlet Tanager that had been found in Cornwall(See below) only for the bird not to be there and end up the next day back on the Isles Of Sciliies,this bird species had already give me the run around!

St Levan,Cornwall,first-winter male,20th to 21st October 2011

Isles Of Scilly,Sandy Lane,St Mary's,first-winter male,22nd October 2011

Anyway what I wasent expecting was the sheer number of birders on site for this bird on a Tuesday morning when I arrived,after apparently 400 people had been on site yesterday,does nobody work anymore!

7.15am in the morning!

The main area where the bird had been seen yesterday

This was going to be a nightmare and so it proved when the bird was seen further down the road in in a tree briefly just before 8.00am by a few birders,everybody surged forward but the bird had gone straight through.The bird was seen again just before 9.00am down the side of a house,where the bird perched up in a cherry tree for a few seconds,again you had to be in the right place to see the bird due to size of the crowd.

Birders On Site

The rest of the day was uneventiful with no sightings of the bird before dusk.I was still hopeful the bird was around so I headed home and decided I would come back in the morning and hopefully the crowds would be gone!A few phonecalls and texts had me laughing during the evening that I had been seen on the regional news and even made the ITV news at 10.00!

I arrived back on site at 7.00am and thankfully there were only a few people on site but again there was no sign of the bird by 9.00am so I teamed up with the remaining birders and did some door knocking on the top road looking down on the area I had been looking up at yesterday.Thankfully a lovely lady called Mavis let us in her garden and we were in prime position if the bird showed again.

Mavis's garden overlooked the area where the Scarlet Tanager had been regular seen over the last week after talking to a few of Mavis's neighbours

We waited and waited,hopeful that the bird would return and as birders decided to leave,due to Sparrowhawk theories and that it had gone I decided to give it till dusk,there were only eight of us left!At 2.30pm I was walking down the garden when Dave Woodhouse shouted "Al it's in the tree" unbelievable,after 15 and half hours of standing around I was actually now watching this MEGA YANK!No pushing,No Scrum,just eight of us watching this bird in total silence taking it all in!AMAZING!

First photographs of the Scarlet Tananger

The Tanager continued to show well and the birders that had left started to return to get crippling views of the bird.

Me and Dave Woodhouse,Dave had been on site since yesterday morning as well!Dedication and patience had finally paid off!

IMAGES AND VIDEO OF THE SCARLET TANAGER!

Previous Records

2014 Outer Hebrides Brevig,Barra,first-winter female,6th to 9th October,trapped 7th October

2011 Isles Of Scilly,Sandy Lane,St Mary's,first-winter male,22nd October

2011 Cornwall,St Levan,first-winter male,20th to 21st October

1982 Isles Of Scilly,Higher Moors,St Mary's,female,12th to 18th October

1981 Cornwall,Nanquidno,St Just,first-winter male,11th October

1975 Isles Of Scilly,Gimble Porth,Tresco,first-winter male,28th September to 3rd October

1970,Isles Of Scilly,Porth Hellick,St Mary's,first-winter male,4th October