Crowds of bird watchers gathered in a quiet cul-de-sac after observing a rare species perched on a washing line in a garden.

The report of the scarlet tanager at Shelf, near Halifax, is believed to be the first time one of these birds has been sighted in Yorkshire.

The stocky songbird normally moves twice a year between the eastern United States and the lowland forests of South America.

One Twitcher who made an early morning trip from London described spotting the creature as “exhilarating”.

Dozens of bird watchers gathered along the street after initial reports of the bird being sighted were shared online and on social media.

Geoffrey King, who has been birding for 15 years, traveled 354km north from Weybridge, Surrey, to West Yorkshire in the early hours of Monday.

He arrived on the scene at 09:30 GMT, but it took another five hours before a hushed murmur spread through the crowd, signaling that the bird had become visible.

“It was very exhilarating,” he said.

Mr King, 67, was packing up his tripod and was ready to book a hotel when he saw the bird.

“I had pretty much given up. Someone called and he was there at the top of the tree! It was a big relief to see him,” he enthused.

The scarlet tanager was the 478th species spotted by Mr King in the UK, he added.

Another bird enthusiast, who gave his details simply as Paul from London, said it was early to get to the site on time.

“I got up at five in the morning and was on the road by 5:30,” the 61-year-old said.

“The older I get, the more amazed I am that something the size of a sparrow could cross the ocean, 3,000 miles (4,828 km), to get here. It’s extraordinary.”

He said it was his first sighting of the species in nearly five decades of birding.

According to the American Bird Conservancy, the scarlet tanager’s song is often described as “like a robin with a cold.”

Luke Nash, who had traveled from Durham, was also hoping to hear it among the assembled Twitchers.

“I saw it online last night and went straight there,” the 22-year-old said.

“This is absolutely unprecedented. The last sighting was about 10 years ago.

“I was a little wary when I heard he was there. I was hanging out and playing with my camera, looking at my phone, then someone shouted that he was coming, then the camera came out out of the bag and the binoculars were up.”

The scarlet tanager is the 435th species spotted by Mr Nash in Britain.

Another bird watcher, Matt O’Sullivan, said the scarlet tanager’s appearance was the first recorded on the British mainland, while other sightings had taken place on “remote” islands.

He added: “This bird will have been born in late spring or early summer in the eastern United States or Canada and found its way to West Yorkshire. It is very likely that it crossed the Atlantic in a low pressure system and has been here since then. Typically, this species winters in Central America, migrating across the Gulf of Mexico or through Florida.

“There have only been 13 previous records of this species in the UK and Ireland, but they have almost always been on isolated islands, so it is essentially the first bird that ordinary people can go and see – hence the massive crowd.”

Website Bird Guides said the that this sighting was thought to be the first in Yorkshire.

“Never before seen in Yorkshire, the first male winter scarlet tanager is only the eighth British record and the first since 2014,” the statement said.

According to Cornell University’s All about Birds website, male breeding birds have bright red bodies and black wings and tails, while females and juveniles have yellowish-green bodies.

It is usually the duller, yellowish birds that are spotted in the UK, having been swept away by storms as they migrate south in the autumn, the website says.

Among the crowd, a man had traveled a little less far than the other enthusiasts: he had come from a few hundred meters into the village.

The temporary twitcher was walking his dog when he spotted the crowd and decided to join them, saying he would be “choked” to see the American visitor.

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