Portland, Maine, has been a recent Rare Bird hotspot, where birders most recently documented a Fifth State Record Black-headed Grosbeak.

A relatively quiet week for rare birds across the continent, 2 state records were established on opposite sides of America: Birders in Maine found a Fifth State Record Black-headed Grosbeak and a Sixth State Record Great Egret was photographed on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Two European thrushes, Redwings, were observed in eastern Canada, one in the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland. A Little Gull was sighted in Mississippi, and a Masked Booby excited birders in the San Diego area of California – and there’s more, including a growing list of impressive continuing rare birds.

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

Fifth State Record Black-headed Grosbeak – Portland, Maine

Sixth State Record Great Egret – Oahu, Hawaii

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Redwing – Harvey, New Brunswick

Redwing – St. Johns, Newfoundland

Little Gull – Sardis Lake, Mississippi

Masked Booby – San Diego, California

Brown Pelican – Saybrook, Connecticut

Black Scoter – Rapid City, South Dakota

Broad-tailed Hummingbird – Point Clear, Alabama

Townsend’s Solitaire – near Allison, Arkansas

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

Fieldfare – Quebec

Gray Heron – Newfoundland

Cuban Pewee – Florida Keys

Streak-backed Oriole – California

Little Stint – California

Northern Jacana – southern Arizona

Blue Buntings – south Texas

Crimson-collared Grosbeaks – south Texas

For more information, refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-january-29-2021/ 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/