[CT Birds] Bullock's O in CT

[Greg Hanisek]

There are three (or five) fully documented records for Bullock's Oriole in Conn (depending on  how you count). All include photos:

1/ C. 6 Jan to 6 Feb 1977 at a feeder in West Hartford; adult male

2/  mid Oct 1997 to mid Feb 1998; winter 1998-99; & winter 1999-2000 - all involving an adult male at the same feeder in West Goshen. This appears to involve the same individual and as such represents a strong example of site fidelity by a vagrant species (a fascinating subject in its own right).

3/ C. 5-30 Nov 1999 at a feeder in Stafford; imm. male


The true historical status of the species in Conn is clouded by two factors:

1/ ID difficulty
2/ Former status as a subspecies, along with Baltimore Oriole, of the lumped species known as Northern Oriole

When the birds were considered a single species, the listing instincts of the birding community resulted in scant attention paid to separating individuals. The first documented record for Conn, the West Hartford bird, could have fallen by the wayside because it occurred during a period when Bullock's and Baltimore where lumped together as Northern Oriole. Fortunately photos were taken. Later, after the birds were split again, the photos allowed Avian Records Committee of Conn to add Bullock's to the official state list in its 8th Report, which was published in the Oct 1998 Connecticut Warbler, more than two decades after the sighting. (Did I ever mention that documentation was important?)

There are a number of older reports but they tend to lack any details. This renders them useless because critical ID points of Bullock's vs Baltimore in difficult immature plunmages have only been worked out and widely disseminated in the past decade or so. Many older field guides emphasized things such as back or belly color that are too variable to be diagnostic.

Greg Hanisek
Waterbury