Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The ABA Rare Bird Alert’s Weekly Highlights

Rarely encountered in the Northeast, a White Pelican was observed and photographed at locations near Swanton, Vermont.

An exciting find for Canadian birders was a Second Provincial Record Common Ringed Plover, which was photographed in Algonquin Park, Ontario. A Fifth State Record Tufted Duck was also photographed near Exeter, New Hampshire. Two rare hummingbirds caught many birders attention along our southern border, including a Berylline Hummingbird along Crystal Cave Trail in the Chiricahua Mountains in Southeast Arizona; and a White-eared Hummingbird was visiting a feeder at the Davis Mountains Preserve visitor center in west Texas. Interesting off-course birds from Siberia and the Caribbean were also reported!

 

PROVINCIAL & STATE RECORDS

Second Provincial Record Common Ringed Plover – Algonquin Park, Ontario

Fifth State Record Tufted Duck – near Exeter, New Hampshire

 

COOL RARE HUMMINGBIRDS

Berylline Hummingbird – Crystal Cave Trail, Arizona

White-eared Hummingbird – Davis Mountains Preserve, Texas

 

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Little Stint – Saint Paul Island, Alaska

Black-tailed Godwit – Whitehead Island, Nova Scotia

Yellow-billed Loon – Brushy Creek Rec Area, Iowa

Great Black-backed Gull – Riverlands, Missouri

Magnificent Frigatebird – Fenwick Island, Delaware

White Pelican – near Swanton, Vermont

Brown Booby – Mount Desert Rock, Maine

Fulvous Whistling Duck – Jackson County, Illinois

Common Gallinule – Niobrara State Park, Nebraska

 

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

We’ve been lucky enough to have a strong group of continuing rare birds through the summer, including the Common Crane continues to be seen in Arizona, the Slate-throated Redstart continues in Rio Grande National Park in west Texas; the Red-footed Booby and Nazca Booby continue in coastal California, and a Little Egret is still reported in southern Maine. Arctic-nesting shorebirds and neotropical songbirds have initiated their post-nesting movements and migrations, so August will surely produce more exciting rare birds!

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2019/08/rare-bird-alert-august-16-2019.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/