A mega-rarity from North America wouldn't have been on many people's bingo cards in a week that felt 'drifty' for European migrants, yet it was the first-summer male Indigo Bunting that firmly occupied the minds of twitchers over the weekend. Found by the astounded Peter Bell in his garden at Whitburn, Co. Durham, on the 18th, the bird will prove the fourth British record if accepted as wild. Interestingly, another first-summer male was found in southeast Iceland on the 19th, while a probable one was reported at Skagen, Denmark, on the 9th. The species is known in captivity in Europe, which has led to some speculation about this bird's origins. Wild-caught Indigo Buntings were commonly imported, mainly from Mexico, in the late 1960s through the 1980s, but imports have dried up since. This coincides with two British records consigned to Category E—namely adult males at Wells Wood, Norfolk, in October 1988 and Flamborough, East Yorkshire, in May 1989—and a spike in records across Europe that presumably related to escapes from captivity. More recently, three birds in the Netherlands in the spring of 2019 were captive escapes. That said, records of escaped birds have largely dried up since the ban on wild imports, and its age is right for a wayward vagrant. Perhaps it arrived during 2023's bumper autumn for 'Yanks', wintered somewhere in southern Europe or North Africa, and is now on its way heading north.
A great bird; just have to see now if the powers that be accept this Indigo bunting as the fourth for Britain😎
Previous Records
1996, Pembrokeshire, Ramsey Island, first-winter male, 18th to 26th October
2013, Anglesey, Menai Bridge, male, 20th May
2020, Isles Of Scilly, Big Pool, St Agnes, 1CY, 25-26 October
