National Wildlife Refuge Assn. 2012 Rarity Roundup

Wednesday January 16, 2013   |

As part of its first report of 2013, the National Wildlfie Refuge Association has highlighted some leftovers from its "Rarity Sightings" of 2012.

Some were not mentioned because they were ephemeral, documented but not necessarily observed by many. Some were in very remote locations (e.g., Alaska localities). Other rarities just got second standing in our judgment, compared to others seen in the previous month. In any case, here are a few (in roughly chronological order):

Dusky Thrush - Anchorage, Alaska
Rufous-backed Robin - multiple individuals in Arizona, also Nevada, California
Slaty-backed Gull - a fascinating spread involving multiple individuals in California, Illinois, Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, Newfoundland, Ontario, and Saskatchewan
Pink-footed Goose - another sprinkling of intriguing individuals in the Northeast, including geese in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Maine
La Sagra's Flycatcher -multiple individuals in south Florida
Crimson-collared Grosbeak - multiple individuals in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas
McKay's Bunting - Damon Point, Washington
An outstanding collection of spring and fall birds at Gambell, Alaska, including the following - Terek Sandpiper, Temminck's Stint, Yellow-browed Warbler, Dusky Warbler, and Siberian Blue Robin
Another collection of Eurasian rarities on St. Paul Island, Alaska, including the following - Pin-tailed Snipe, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Eurasian Bullfinch, Hawfinch, and Pine Bunting
And, finally
Gray-tailed Tattler - Nantucket, Massachusetts
Pelagic rarities are a special case, since they cannot reasonably be refound by new observers. Still, some favorites of ours include the following 10:
Black-browed Albatross - North Carolina
Mottled Petrel - British Columbia
Short-tailed Albatross - Western Aleutians, Alaska and Fort Bragg, California
Hawaiian Petrel - off Santa Cruz County
Cook's Petrel - off Humbolt County and San Diego County
Murphy's Petrel - off San Diego County
Red-tailed Tropicbird - off San Mateo County
Fea's Petrel - off Long Island, New York and off South Carolina
Herald Petrel - off Maryland
White-faced Storm Petrel - off Maryland, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia

Note: Most of these rarities were gleaned from the fine folks who keep the North American Rare Bird Alert - NARBA - going. You may want to give their website a look: www.narba.org/. And we always recommend the journal of record that keeps tabs on these ongoing trends and developments, NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. You might want to look here for more on that journal: www.aba.org/nab/