A bogey on the sixth hole and par on the seventh: Roy William Gardner’s scorecard from a recent round of golf on Long Island was nothing to write home about.
But there, on the front nine of the Vineyards Country Club in Riverhead, N.Y., came a most elusive birdie, trailing Mr. Gardner from fence post to fence post as he rode in a golf cart: a common cuckoo.
Experts said that the species, which is native to Europe and Asia, is believed to have visited only a handful of places in the lower 48 states since bird tracking sites began logging them around the early 2000s.
Their rare cameos have become quite the spectacle, drawing birders across state lines, telephoto lenses and binoculars in tow.
At first, though, Mr. Gardner, 67, a real estate agent from East Quogue, N.Y., said that the bird was a mystery to him when he encountered it on the afternoon of Oct. 23.
“I’m like, what the heck is it?” he said in an interview on Friday.
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