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Subject: Exotic feathered visitor found near driveway -- Species normally resides in Central and South America, male discovered last week first to be found alive in N.S. -- Halifax Daily News, Monday, July 23, 2007 Halifax Daily News, Monday, July 23, 2007 Exotic feathered visitor found near driveway Species normally resides in Central and South America, male discovered last week first to be found alive in N.S. PAUL MCLEOD The Daily News PHOTO: [Also a colour photo of the bird appeared on the front page of the newspaper] Hope for Wildlife volunteer Laura Bond examines a Red Billed Tropic bird found on the shore in Three Fathom Harbour last week. (Daily News/Sabrena Mackenzie) When Eric Hiltz found a barely living bird next to his driveway in Three Fathom Harbour last week, he had no idea the bird would be a first for Nova Scotia. The bird was unlike anything he had seen before, with a long tail-feather and black-and-white striping. It was exhausted and unable to move. After taking it in, bathing it,and feeding it, Hiltz sent the bird to the Hope for Wildlife Society where its identity was discovered. After doing some research, staff confirmed it was a red-billed tropicbird. Far from home The bird normally resides near Central and South America. It's so rare in Nova Scotia that this is the first one ever found alive in the province. One bird that didn't make the journey washed up onshore last year. Not only is the bird a few thousand kilometres away from home, but it's less than a year old. This is the bird's first summer journey North. What no one's certain of is how it got here. "My best guess, what happens with these birds sometimes, especially young ones, is they start flying and they get swept up in a storm system and blown way off course," said Dominic Cormier, the bird expert at Hope for Wildlife who identified the bird. Since being brought to the Seaforth-based shelter, the bird has continued to gain strength. While at first it could not move at all, it is now able to lift and move its head. It is being regularly fed and given fluids. Normally the shelter would care for an animal until it can be released into the wild. But this bird is posing a dilemma, said Hope Swinimer, the Hope for Wildlife Society founder. Two schools of thought "There's two schools of thought. One is he turned up here (so) let him go here. He's got all summer, he'll get stronger and he'll migrate back to where he should go. The other school of thought is to fly him back to where he should be," she said. Swinimer said she is leaning towards contacting an animal rehabilitation centre in the southern United States and flying the bird down to them. pmcleod@hfxnews.ca
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