A quiet Monday morning down by the boat launch turned into a monumental rush for avid birder Ray Suchodolski.

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 looking along the shore and I see this white blob,SA国际影视传媒� recalls Suchodolski, who doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 carry his binoculars with him this time of year, as most of the birds having gone south already.

SA国际影视传媒淚 look and itSA国际影视传媒檚 a bird. ISA国际影视传媒檓 looking at it and I say, no it canSA国际影视传媒檛 SA国际影视传媒� what is that? I mean ISA国际影视传媒檝e seen enough snow geese and swans and white birds to know itSA国际影视传媒檚 not a gull, itSA国际影视传媒檚 not a snow goose, itSA国际影视传媒檚 not a swan. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 a totally different shape than either one. I said you know, it canSA国际影视传媒檛 be. ISA国际影视传媒檓 saying it canSA国际影视传媒檛 possibly be what I think it is. ISA国际影视传媒檓 totally incredulous. Holy ----, I was out of my skin.SA国际影视传媒�

He recognized that it was an egret of some sort.

SA国际影视传媒淭his thing is 3,000 km out of its birding range, never happens,SA国际影视传媒� said Suchodolski. SA国际影视传媒淯ntil Monday. I went tearing home. ISA国际影视传媒檓 literally vibrating. I canSA国际影视传媒檛 believe this.SA国际影视传媒�

He got his binoculars and bird book and came back to the boat launch, where he confirmed his identification of the bird being a great egret, with its yellow bill, long neck and black legs.

Roger Connelly and Helen Sullivan also spotted the bird before knowledge of its presence caught on in the community.

Kristina Hick, landbird biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, said there hasnSA国际影视传媒檛 been a reporting sighting of a great egret in the Northwest Territories since 1993, when one was seen in Yellowknife, making this the farthest north reported sighting of the bird in recorded Canadian history.

There was one sighting of a great egret reported in northern Alaska in 2007, but that was during summer.

SA国际影视传媒淚t is unusual for this species to be this far north in the fall when they should be migrating south,SA国际影视传媒� said Hick.

The great egret spends its summers breeding in the United States and a few areas in southern Canada. It then migrates south for the winter, travelling as far as southern Central America.

SA国际影视传媒淭his appears to be a phenomenon called reverse migration that is used by researchers to explain the presence of vagrants in the fall SA国际影视传媒� i.e. when birds migrate in the opposite direction than expected,SA国际影视传媒� explained Hick.

SA国际影视传媒淭he causes of these unusual migratory movements are unknown but they could be related to birds becoming disoriented and lost due to an anomaly with their SA国际影视传媒榠nternal navigational system,SA国际影视传媒� mistaking north for south; their young age and inexperience using navigation aids SA国际影视传媒� visual, olfactory and magnetic cues SA国际影视传媒� or due to extreme weather patterns.SA国际影视传媒�

Peter Clarkson, another wildlife enthusiast in town, said heSA国际影视传媒檚 heard reports that the bird is feeding at least.

SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檙e all just hoping that it enjoys the weather here while it can but then flies out with the geese and the seagulls when things start to get a little bit colder,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

SA国际影视传媒淲e donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to go down to the boat launch and see it frozen to the shore.SA国际影视传媒�

The bird had been hanging around Inuvik all last week.

For as excited as Suchodolski was to see the great egret, he too hopes it finds its way south.

SA国际影视传媒淭his is an amazing find,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淚n the birding world, this is right up topSA国际影视传媒� I wish to hell it would leave. I donSA国际影视传媒檛 want it to die.SA国际影视传媒�