West Coast bird rarely seen in New York is spending time at Flanders feeder, drawing crowds

The view out the window above Meigan Madden Rocco’s kitchen sink at her Flanders home is usually calm, quiet and peaceful.

When she’s home, she enjoys gazing at the birds that visit her feeder — finches, blue jays, sparrows, woodpeckers — as they fly back and forth throughout the day for a free meal.

That tranquil scene was upended last weekend, when a special visitor unintentionally turned her home into a must-visit destination for bird enthusiasts from all over the state and beyond.

It all began on Friday, when a bird with striking bright blue plumage alighted at her feeder and caught her eye. She had never seen a bird like it before, and immediately took a few photos of it and sent them along to her friend, Andria McMaugh. Before moving to Florida, McMaugh worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for many years, and in addition to being Madden Rocco’s friend, she’s also been her “go-to bird person,” helping her identify birds that arrive at her feeder.

At first, McMaugh couldn’t believe what she was looking at, but her initial hunch turned out to be correct.

A male Lazuli bunting, a bird common on the West Coast — with a range that extends not much farther than New Mexico to the south and the Dakotas up north — had somehow traveled all the way to the East End, making it about as rare a bird sighting as possible on Long Island.

McMaugh had been fairly certain she was looking at a Lazuli when Madden Rocco sent her the photo, but because of the extreme unlikelihood that a Lazuili would make its way that far east — the last time one was reported in the state was more than 20 years ago — she shared the photo to a bird ID Facebook group for second opinions.

“People were, like, ‘Are you sure it’s in New York?’” McMaugh said earlier this week, recounting the experience. “Without thinking, I said, I’ll report it on e-bird, which is a bird database a lot of birders use. I thought, let me put the rare sighting on there. I tagged Meigan — and then it blew up.”

News spread quickly, and by the weekend Madden Rocco and her husband were suddenly entertaining hundreds of visitors daily, enthusiastic birders from all over Long Island and the tri-state area. People were arriving from as far away as Connecticut and Buffalo, armed with binoculars and cameras with long lenses, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Lazuli.

Madden Rocco said she was floored by the number of people that arrived in her neighborhood — on Monday, the fourth day that people had arrived, she estimated that roughly 400 birders had shown up — but she said she was thoroughly enjoying the experience.

“It’s unreal to me,” she said on Monday morning. “I just have one bird feeder, and this bird picked here.”

Madden Rocco and her family gave the bird a name, Raul, and began referring to the event and the daily convergence of birders as “Lazuli-palooza.”

She said that Raul had made a pattern of being around most often in the early morning, between 6:45 and 7:15 a.m., and then would show up nearly every hour until going longer stretches between visiting the feeder in the later afternoon.

Experts and experienced birders that Madden Rocco chatted with said it’s likely that Raul was blown off course during some kind of weather event, and that he is likely refueling at her feeder in preparation for a long journey back to his natural habitat.

He is, of course, completely unaware of the impact his inadvertent journey east has had on the birders who have come to Madden Rocco’s quiet Flanders neighborhood to catch a glimpse of him.

“I just witnessed two women sobbing and hugging,” Madden Rocco said on Monday morning. “He flew away about five minutes ago. I’m so happy to provide this opportunity for everybody.”

Not everyone would be thrilled by the presence of hundreds of strangers showing up outside their home, aiming telephoto lenses into their kitchen, but in choosing Madden Rocco’s solitary feeder, Raul also seemed to have chosen the perfect host.

“The people have been really nice and so respectful, so it’s been a really, really great experience,” she said. “I’m so happy for everybody that’s been able to see this bird. The best part for me is watching out the kitchen window to see everybody’s reactions as soon as they see him fly in. It’s magical to watch their reactions. I’m happy to make people happy.”

Madden Rocco said she has learned that many birders have what they call a “life list,” a sort of bucket list checklist of birds they want to see in their lifetime. Raul’s trip east allowed a lot of people to check the Lazuli bunting off their list without having to make a long trip out west to do so.

Mack Chitulescu, who lives in Queens, is one of the birders who visited Madden Rocco’s home, and took photos of the Lazuli. He’s been a bird enthusiast for years, but said he doesn’t describe himself as a “lister.”

“I’m into it just because I think birds are awesome,” he said.

Like many others, he heard about the Lazuli sighting on Facebook, and then reached out to Madden Rocco to ask her if it would be okay for him to come and take some photos. Madden Rocco had set up an email for people who wanted to communicate with her about the bird, and share photos.

Chitulescu visited on Sunday and was able to see Raul, and take a bunch of photos. The rest of the members of the Queens County Bird Club, his home club, also made the trek to see the bird.

“I was just amazed,” he said. “My friend spotted it first, and was saying, ‘It’s here, it’s here!’ It’s such a bright, beautiful bird. We were really ecstatic. We were giving each other fist bumps. It’s a bird we never thought we’d see in New York State.”

Chitulescu said he appreciated that Raul was not camera shy.

“He was really photogenic and fairly cooperative,” he said of the bird.

Chitulescu added it was a relief to actually see the bird after making the long trek out east early in the morning, because in the birding world, there are no guarantees.

“I’ve driven to Maine and missed a bird, and had to come back the same day,” he said. “That’s the peril of bird watching. You can’t predict Mother Nature.”

This experience was basically the opposite of that. “The owner was very hospitable and the bird was cooperative,” he said. “All the stars aligned.”

Madden Rocco said on Monday that she knew Raul would not stick around forever, and was already thinking about the inevitable day when he wouldn’t show up.

“I said to my husband last night, ‘How am I going to break it to people when he doesn’t come back?’” she said. “He’s making so many people so happy.”

While Raul’s departure was sure to be bittersweet, McMaugh spoke about another aspect of what made his visit so special.

“It’s exciting to see people excited about nature,” she said. “We spend so much time away from it, on computers and TV, so it’s cool. It’s great that people are excited about it.”

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This article was originally published by the Express News Group on 27East.com and it reprinted here with permission.