Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The ABA Rare Bird Alert’s Weekly Highlights

A real surprise for Quebec birders was a Burrowing Owl, an exciting First Provincial Record for Quebec, sighted last week in the town of Abitibi.

Canadian birders were excited to find a First Provincial Record Burrowing Owl in Quebec last week, and skilled Kentucky birders added a First State Record Brewer’s Sparrow. Members of the Ohio Young Birders Club showed their prowess when they found and photographed the Fourth State Record Townsend’s Warbler on their field trip during The Biggest Week in American Birding to the delight of many Ohio listers. There were also some Eurasian and Latin birds in last week’s rare bird highlights, including a Common Crane, which has apparently appeared in Arizona for the third year at Morman Lake.

PROVINCIAL & STATE RECORDS

First Provincial Record Burrowing Owl – Abitibi, Quebec

First State Record Brewer’s Sparrow – Louisville , Kentucky

Second Provincial Record Black-throated Gray Warbler – Kelowna, British Columbia

Third State Record Bullock’s Oriole – Sleepy Eye, Minnesota

Fourth State Record Townsend’s Warbler – Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio

Fifth State Record Cassin’s Sparrows – near Beatty, Nevada

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Common Crane – Mormon Lake, Arizona (third year)

Curlew Sandpiper – Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina

Tufted Ducks – Middletown, Rhode Island

Little Stint – Shemya Island, Alaska

Mexican Violetears – San Antonio and Weslaco, Texas

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – Campbell River, British Columbia

Yellow Rail – near Old Saybrook, Connecticut

MORE REALLY RARE WARBLERS

Kirtland’s Warbler – downtown Chicago, Illinois

Hooded Warbler – Corvalis, Oregon

Hooded Warbler – Bismarck, North Dakota

Hooded Warbler – near Wickenburg, Arizona

Prairie Warbler – Brookings, South Dakota

Swainson’s Warbler – Last Chance, Colorado

MORE REALLY RARE BIRDS

Lazuli Bunting – near Centerton, Arkansas

Blue Grosbeak – Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Wilson’s Plover – Cupsogue Beach, New York

Common Gallinule – Wellington State Wildlife Area, Colorado

Fulvous Whistling Ducks – Charleston, Missouri

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks – Senecaville, Ohio and Breneman Quarry, Pennsylvania

Continuing rare birds include the Bahama Mockingbird and Zenaida Dove in Florida and the Slate-throated Redstart in westest Texas; the Black-tailed Gull and White-tailed Eagle in far western Alaska, a Barnacle Goose in Quebec, and the Little Egrets in southern Maine. Be alert! This spring has been excellent for producing rare birds.

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2019/05/rare-bird-alert-may-17-2019.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/