Burrowing Owl

In southern Maine, a strange raptor photographed by a novice birder turned out to be a first state record, but also only the second record of a Great Black Hawk in the United States! What’s more, the first United States record was observed less than four months ago in Texas, and it turns out this was the same immature bird! This great raptor obviously has stopped in other states along the way, but maybe the bigger question is: Where will it be found next? Great Black Hawks normally range from northern Mexico to northern Argentina – a long distance from Maine!

Working our way south through New England, New Hampshire had a first record Neotropical Cormorant in the northern county of the state, while a Wood Stork was sighted in Rochester down south.

A pelagic birding trip out of Massachusetts scored an offshore Red-billed Tropicbird, a species that normally ranges far south in Caribbean waters and south in the Atlantic realm.

In Rhode Island, an Old World egret, a Little Egret, was observed near the border with Connecticut, but it appeared to have crossed the border last week and birders found it roosting in Stonigton, Connecticut, where it represents a long-anticipated first record for that state.

A Bridled Tern was photographed on Great Gull Island, northeast of Long Island, New York. This species is rarely observed north of the Carolinas.

Speaking of Carolina, a Burrowing Owl, identified as a western subspecies bird, was reported southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. 

The first sighting of a Roseate Spoonbill for the province of Quebec was recorded in Saint-Martin-de-Beauce.

Wisconsin’s first record of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was recorded at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, where many birders have been able to see this rare bird that nests in Arctic Siberia, migrates through East Asia, and primarily winters in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand.

Birders in southeast Colorado were treated to a pair of Zone-tailed Hawks, a Neotropic Cormorant and a Tricolored Heron. 

For more information, refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2018/08/rare-bird-alert-august-3-2018.html

You may also get more information about individual rare bird sightings from the state rare bird alert listserves, which you can access at http://birding.aba.org/