WORLD : Heron Flies Atlantic to Its Death

A rare American heron made an epic flight across the Atlantic, then promptly got killed by an Irish hunting dog.

“This is a tragedy. It is a shame after surviving a flight across the Atlantic it should have met such an end,” top Irish ornithologist Killian Mullarney said after the death of the bittern, a long brown heron, was reported today.

“It was the first American bittern known to have reached Ireland since 1973 so a lot of people, including many from Britain, would have liked to have seen it and must be very disappointed.” It was killed in Wexford in southeast Ireland.

Many U.S. bird-watchers had been planning to flock over to see the rare bird, which was blown off course over the Atlantic while migrating from North America to Central America for the winter.