The First State Record Mississippi Kite was documented in the town of Alexander in northwest North Dakota.

The first rare bird finds of the summer provide an especially impressive list of birds, including a First State Record Mississippi Kite in North Dakota, and much farther north 2 First Territorial Record birds were documented in Northwest Territories – a Burrowing Owl and a Red-necked Stint. There was also a Brown Booby in Colorado and a Crested Caracara in Indiana that established Second State Records, while birders reported 5 Fifth Record birds, including another Yellow Grosbeak in Colorado, Orchard Orioles in Alberta, a Curve-billed Thrasher in Wyoming, and a Plumbeous Vireo in Saskatchewan, and there’s many more rare birds to report:

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First State Record Mississippi Kite – Alexander, North Dakota

First Territorial Record Burrowing Owl – Behchoko, Northwest Territories

First Territorial Record Red-necked Stint – Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories

Second State Record Brown Booby – near Utleyville, Colorado

Second State Record Crested Caracara – near Prairie Creek, Indiana

Fifth State Record Yellow Grosbeak – Estes Park, Colorado

Fifth Provincial Record Orchard Orioles (3) – near Manyberries, Alberta

Fifth State Record Curve-billed Thrasher – Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Fifth Provincial Record Plumbeous Vireo – Cypress Hills Park, Saskatchewan

Sixth State Record Black-bellied Whistling Duck – Berlin, Connecticut

Sixth State Record Alder Flycatcher – Cassimer Bar Wildlife Area, Washington

Seventh Provincial Record Swallow-tailed Kite – Inverness, Nova Scotia

Seventh State Record Anhinga – Hamden, Connecticut

Nineth State Record Least Tern – McNary Wildlife Refuge, Washington

Eleventh State Record Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – New Haven, Connecticut

REALLY RARE BIRDS

Pacific Swift – St. Paul Island, the Pribilofs, Alaska

Red-footed Booby – offshore Palm Beach, Florida

Brown Booby – near Meridian, Mississippi

Hudsonian Godwit – Coden, Alabama

Sabine’s Gull – Miami Beach, New Jersey

Purple Gallinule – Wichita, Kansas

CONTINUING REALLY RARE BIRDS

Steller’s Sea Eagle – Newfoundland

Yellow-headed Caracara – Florida

Cattle Tyrant – Texas

Kelp Gull - Wisconsin

Berylline Hummingbird – Arizona

Flame-colored Tanager – Arizona

Yellow Grosbeak – Colorado

American Flamingos – Louisiana, Florida, Texas

For more information, you can refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at Rare Bird Alert: July 4, 2025 - American Birding Association (aba.org) Special Thanks to the ABA for permitting us to use the ABA’s Rare Bird Alert as the basis to prepare this weekly or bi-weekly replay.

You can often find more information about individual rare bird sightings from the ABA state rare bird alert listserves that you can access at Birding News brought to you by American Birding Association - (aba.org) or at ABA Rare Bird Alert | Facebook