songbird

When news a rare American songbird had been spotted in a sleepy West Yorkshire cul-de-sac eager ornithologists converged on the quiet street faster than a falcon in free fall.

The stocky songbird normally travels between the eastern United States and lowland South American forests twice a year.

The fire also swept through parts of the island that have rare habitats for sensitive plant and animal species found nowhere else, such as the endangered San Clemente loggerhead shrike, a carnivorous songbird.

I’ve lived here for more than 60 years and would occasionally spot them on tree tops scanning for passing songbirds.

The species they support range from tiger salamanders to desert pupfish, and from songbirds to mammals such as ground squirrels and bighorn sheep.