The First Provincial Record of a Rock Wren was reported by lucky Canadian birders last week at North Cape in Prince Edward Island, far east of any other Rock Wrens.

Last week both the United States and Canada tallied new state and provincial records, with a Rock Wren providing a First Provincial Record on the northern tip of Prince Edward Island, while a Cassin’s Finch sighting created a First State Record for Michigan. Two wayward gulls provided two states with Sixth State Records – namely a Heermann’s Gull in northern Texas, and a Glaucous-winged Gull near the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Other exceptional birds reported by astute birders included such off-course birds as a La Sagra’s Flycatcher and a Little Egret.

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First Provincial Record Rock Wren – North Cape, Prince Edward Island

First State Record Cassin’s Finch – Copper Harbor, Michigan

Sixth State Record Heermann’s Gull – Abilene, Texas

Sixth State Record Glaucous-winged Gull – near Rosemount, Minnesota

Eighth State Record Elegant Trogon – Estero Llano Grande Park, Texas

Eleventh State Record Sage Thrasher – Copper Harbor, Michigan

Eleventh State Record Field Sparrow – Rio Rico, Arizona

Twelfth State Record Field Sparrow – near Douglas, Arizona

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

La Sagra’s Flycatcher – near Key Largo, Florida

Little Egret – Dominion Beach, Nova Scotia

Magnificent Frigatebird – Lake Carl Blackwell, Oklahoma

Brown Booby – Manhattan, New York

Yellow-billed Loon – Sutherland Reservoir, Nebraska

Ferruginous Hawk – Prairie State Park, Missouri

Bullock’s Oriole – Freeport, Maine

Black-throated Gray Warbler – Biddeford, Maine

Buff-bellied Hummingbird – Foley, Alabama Missouri

Bell’s Vireo – Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Dickcissel – Saanich, British Columbia

Lesser Goldfinch – Burlington, Iowa

Trumpeter Swans (3) – Stone Tavern Lake, New Jersey

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

Common Pochard – Victoria, British Columbia

Variegated Flycatcher – near Toronto, Ontario

Cuban Pewee – Florida Keys

Red-legged Thrush – Florida Keys

Black-faced Grassquit – Florida Keys

Eared Quetzals (2) – southeast Arizona

Streak-backed Oriole – southern Arizona

Northern Jacana – southern Arizona

Garganey – Salton Sea, California

Streak-backed Oriole – California

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-november-27-2020/ 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/