March 7 - The Mega Rarity

I skipped out on work today and with Bill E. took the almost 4-hour drive up to western New York State's  Lewis County. Our target was the recently discovered rarity known as the Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch.
This montane bird is found in the west/southwest in states like Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The bird we were after is only the 2nd or 3rd-ever record for NY State !

click on the images to enlarge

For great images of the bird, see Corey Finger's shots.

And you can view the local television station's report

Afterwards we headed over to Ferd's Bog but did not come up with any of the boreal specialties of this area. We did see countless Pine Siskins, some Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Golden-Crowned Kinglets, Brown Creeprs, and Black-Capped Chickadees.