A male Eurasian Wigeon was observed and photographed in western Kansas, west of Dodge City.

Rare birds located last week included two feeder birds – a male Allen’s Hummingbird in northeast Arkansas, which was a first for the state, and a Lazuli Bunting in Ottawa, Ontario. Two Eurasian species were found near the center of the United States, a Eurasian Wigeon was photographed in western Kansas, and a Ruff was photographed in southeast Missouri. Other exciting off-course birds included a Painted Redstart in San Diego, a Spotted Towhee in southern Florida, a Short-tailed Hawk in south-central Texas – and there’s more.

STATE RECORDS

First State Record Allen’s Hummingbird – Bryant, Arkansas

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Eurasian Wigeon – Lakin, Kansas

Ruff – near Rives, Missouri

Painted Redstart – San Diego, California

Short-tailed Hawk – Leakey, Texas

Lazuli Bunting – Ottawa, Ontario

Spotted Towhee – near Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Chestnut-collared Longspur – near Corvalis, Oregon

Continuing California rare birds include the Garganey in West Sacramento and the Red-flanked Bluetail in Los Angeles. In south Florida, birders are still finding the Thick-billed Vireo and Bananquit near Miami. As for south Texas, birders continue to report the Yellow Grosbeak and a Crimson-collared Grosbeak. We wish birders across the continent good luck finding a new assortment of rarities this week.

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2019/03/rare-bird-alert-march-15-2019.html

Special Thanks to the ABA, and Nate Swick, who does such a great job of compiling the ABA’s Rare Bird Alert, which we use to prepare 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/ or at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ABArare/