WEST ALTON, Mo. — A Missouri bird sanctuary rejoiced after officials recently spotted a rare bird on the facility's grounds.
The bird, a Green-tailed Towhee, was sighted at the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in West Alton. The animal is a common fixture in its home throughout the Southwest U.S. and Mexcio, but the species rarely, if ever, makes an appearance in the Midwest.
There have only been 10 recorded sightings of the bird in state history, according to Riverlands Director Ken Buchholz. The last time the bird was spotted on the eastern side of Missouri was in 1976 at the Busch Wildlife Area.
"Green-tailed Towhees live in dense, shrubby habitat, sometimes with scattered trees or cacti," according to CornellLab. "They may occur up to about 10,000 feet elevation. In winter, they move to dry washes, arroyos, mesquite thickets, oak-juniper woodland, creosote bush, and desert grasslands, typically below about 4,000 feet elevation."
See a picture of the bird at the sanctuary here:
The birds' only other recorded appearances outside of the Southwest were at Kentucky's Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan's Seney National Wildlife Refuge and Rhode Island's Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
“Due to the vast, varied and well-maintained habitat at the heart of the Mississippi River Flyway, Riverlands is a Midwest birding hotspot and one of the most popular places in Missouri for birding or birdwatching," Buchholz said. “However, we don’t know why this bird, the Green-tailed Towhee, showed up at Riverlands."
