This bird is almost never seen in the US. Birders are flocking to see it in Maine.
An extremely rare sighting of a gray heron in Maine has brought hundreds of birders to the state. The gray heron, commonly found in Europe, Asia and Africa, was spotted for the first time in the state on Cape Elizabeth, according to Maine Audubon. A local birder driving around the J ordan's Farm area in search of horned lark and lapland longspur instead stumbled across the rare gray and white creature on Oct. 18, according a post shared on eBird . The birder quickly reached out to Maine Audubon's Doug Hitchcox and another fellow birder to confirm his discovery. "Seeing his photos of the white wrists and thighs, there was no question he was right," Hitchcox said about confirming that the bird was indeed the gray heron. The post quickly blew up, and Audubon released a rare bird sighting alert on its website. Since then, hundreds of birders have descended on the working farm in Maine to catch a glimpse of the heron. Hitchcox said he saw about 200 bird watchers on Oct. 19, many from neighboring states like Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. "One birder flew in from Michigan to see it this morning, got the bird and is
