Bird no one believed in finally flies home, but man who ID'd it not around to say goodbye

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No one believed Ray Holland when he said that he had rescued a Bullock's oriole. Today that bird took an Air Canada flight. 

Holland was among the first to see what he thought was a Bullock's oriole flying around Pakenham, Ont., in late 2015.

But there were doubts about his claim. Pakenham is far from the species' normal flight path which runs between British Columbia and Mexico.

One day in January 2016, Holland found the bird half-dead from hypothermia and dehydration. He brought it to the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre to recuperate. 

Today the bird was flown to British Columbia where the Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia plans to release it into the wild in a few weeks. 

Unfortunately, Holland did not live to see his bird fly home today. He died of heart failure last week. He was 73. 

He spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off last December after the widespread doubts about his identification of the bird were finally put to rest. Here is part of their conversation. 

What happened to your reputation when the word got out?

It was just absolutely horrendous around town. I went into the local pub and someone said, "Oh, hey, Holland, how's your fake bird doing? Is it still alive and blah blah blah."

And then we go down the garage and get some gas and they say, "Too bad about that bird, Ray. Oh, nice try." 

It went on for months and months. Weeks and weeks, and months and months. I live in a small town. 

I understand people would chirp when they saw you.

Chah. Yeah

Like, make little bird noises.

Yeah, they would. I had the pee taken out of me anyway (laughs) — if I can say that.

But how were you finally vindicated?

Well, yes. Later on, I got a plaque from the Ontario field ornithologists group and I was able to go to Kingston to receive this plaque from Bob Cermak, the vice-president, and it says, "For monitoring and providing updates to the Ontario birding community for Bullock's oriole, Pakenham, from November to January," thank you very much.

Then he says, "There's a couple of paragraphs in the book you might like to look at.'" He gave me this booklet.

So I looked under Bullock's oriole and there's my bird in there, and all of a sudden I just see that everything was overturned.

It was actually nuclear DNA analysis that proved that both the parents of my bird were actually Bullocks orioles and therefore I was vindicated. And, yes, it was indeed a true Bullock's oriole.