A White-crowned Pigeon was way off base in southeast Ontario!

Considered one of the most extraordinary rare bird finds in the North American realm this year, a White-crowned Pigeon was photographed at by far the northern-most location ever, in Canada! It was obviously a first-Ontario record for this species that is rarely seen beyond southern Florida! Even rarer birds that did not make the record books included sightings of a LaSagra’s Flycatcher and yet another Key West Quail-Dove in southern Florida. Plus there was a Eurasian Skylark in northern California and a Pink-footed Goose in southeast Massachusetts – and there’s more!

First provincial record White-crowned Pigeon – southeast Ontario

First state record Field Sparrow – Clark County, Nevada

Fifth state record Winter Wren – Clark County, Nevada

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Eurasian Skylark – northwest, California

LaSagra Flycatcher – Miami Beach, Florida

Pink-footed Goose – northeast, Massachusetts

Key West Quail-Dove – Miami-Dade County, Florida

Frigatebird sp. – Madison, Wisconsin

Gray Kingbird – eastern Long Island, New York

Bar-tailed Godwit – east Shackleford Banks, North Carolina

EXCITING RARE SIGHTINGS:

Sage Thrasher – New Orleans, Louisiana

Harris’s Hawk – Larimer County, Colorado

Black-throated Gray Warbler – northeast Massachusetts

Golden-crowned Sparrow – Boulder, Colorado

LeConte’s Sparrow – Cape May, New Jersey

American Black Duck – north of Fort Collins, Colorado

Rare species reported here previous weeks that were still being observed last week include the Grey Heron in Newfoundland, at least one Roadside Hawk and the Golden-crowned Warbler in southern Texas, the Red-footed Booby south of Monterey, California and the Bananaquit in Miami, Florida. Just wait until next week if you think this collection of rare birds was exciting.

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2018/08/rare-bird-alert-august-3-2018.html Special Thanks to Nate Swick, who does such a great job of compiling the ABA’s Rare Bird Alert, which we utilize in preparing this weekly replay!

You can often find more information about individual rare bird sightings from the state rare bird alert listserves that you can access at http://birding.aba.org/