Wednesday, July 14, 2021

The ABA Rare Bird Alert’s Weekly Highlights

Young Roseate Spoonbills have been on the move north recently, with the report of a flock of 5 immatures in West Virginia establishing a Second State Record, while the sighting of a flock of 3 immature Roseate Spoonbills was especially rare for Pennsylvania, although not record-setting.

During the past 2 weeks, 2 new North America Record birds were recorded by lucky birders, a First North American Record Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush on the North Slope of Alaska, and a Second North American Record Inca Tern was found on Oahu in Hawaii. The same birds also represented the First and Second State Records respectively for these species. Birders also documented the First Provincial Record of a Steller’s Sea Eagle in New Brunswick, far east of most sightings of this species. And the sighting of a flock of 5 immature Roseate Spoonbills constituted Second State Record in West Virginia.

 

NORTH AMERICA RECORDS

First North American Record Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush – Utquakvik, Alaska

Second North American Record Inca Tern – Oahu Island, Hawaii

 

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First State Record Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush – Utquakvik, Alaska

First Provincial Record Steller’s Sea Eagle – Chaleur Bay, New Brunswick

First State Record Ancient Murrelet – Slaughter Beach, Delaware

Second State Record Inca Tern – near Waikiki, Oahu Island, Hawaii

Second State Record Roseate Spoonbills (5) – Petersburg, West Virginia

Second State Record Yellow-crowned Night Heron – Las Vegas, Nevada

Third Provincial Record Wood Sandpiper – Victoria, British Columbia

Seventh Provincial Record Great-tailed Grackle – Colworth, British Columbia

 

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Green-breasted Mango – Corpus Christi, Texas

Eared Quetzal – Miller Canyon, Arizona

Gray Heron – St. John’s, Newfoundland

Bahama Mockingbird – Sarasota, Florida

Roseate Spoonbills (3) – Faylor Lake, Pennsylvania

Purple Gallinule – Jamaica Bay Refuge, Queens, New York

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (5) – Clear Lake, Minnesota

 

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

Steller’s Sea Eagle – Alaska

Little Stint – Alaska

Berylline Hummingbird – Arizona

Little Egret – Maine

 

For more information, refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-july-2-2021/ and https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-july-9-2021/ 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/