The newest resident at the Fernald Preserve showed up very unexpectedly, but his arrival has birders everywhere talking. Fernald staff member Gary Stegner
Gary Stegner: He was originally found April 30th by two local birders and they reported it through a rare bird alert and since then we've had bird watchers flocking here, pardon the pun, from all over the United States.
"He" is a Garganey duck… native to Europe and Asia but rarely seen in North America. And he's a big deal to birders or "Listers" like Gaylee Dean.
Gaylee Dean: So every year, a few birds wander over here during migration and people like us who 'list' will go anywhere that they can possibly go to chase these birds.
When Dean and her husband Richard received the Garganey alert, they jumped in the car and drove here from South Florida.
Gaylee Dean: We'll toast this bird tonight, I mean we'll crack open a bottle of wine, and it's a big deal. Getting a new bird that you've never seen before doesn't happen very often. Sometimes in Texas birds wander up, but in Ohio? It wasn't something that's very likely.
The Dean's aren't the only ones toasting the Garganey. Shortly after they arrived, a Subaru with Colorado plates pulled into the preserve. Gary Stegner says the duck has attracted visitors from at least 24 states from Maine to California… including the editor of the National Geographic Bird Field Guide.
It's uncertain how the Garganey wound up here. Stegner says Garganey's are highly migratory birds; others theorize the duck may have gotten caught up in wind currents or a storm.