Snow Buntings have been especially rare south of Canada and Alaska this winter, but many birders enjoyed seeing and photographing a Snow Bunting on the edge of Golden, Colorado.

Texas birders in Austin located the First State Record White Wagtail, an Asian species that is sometimes found along the West Coast, but it’s super-rare to find one inland, so this First State Record rates high. Speaking of the West Coast, birders photographed a Thick-billed Kingbird in the foothills of San Dimas, California, west of Los Angeles. On the opposite coast, a Slaty-backed Gull was sighted among a concentration of gulls at a lake in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Yet another Limpkin was documented in North Carolina, and a Snow Bunting was photographed in Golden, rare for Colorado.

STATE RECORD

First State Record White Wagtail – Austin, Texas

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Thick-billed Kingbird – San Dimas, California

Slaty-backed Gull – St. Johns, Newfoundland

Limpkin – central North Carolina

Snow Bunting – Golden, Colorado

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

Continuing rare birds last week included:

Siberian Accentor – Woodland, Washington

Garganey – Salton Sea, California

La Sagra’s Flycatcher – Everglades National Park, Florida

Watch for a rare visitor to your yard or feeding station, as well as when you’re birding afield.

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-february-14-2020/ 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/