Townsend’s Warbler

A big pink bird in Minnesota? An excited birder discovered Minnesota’s first record of a Roseate Spoonbill at a local birding site just south of Minneapolis. Not to be outdone, Maine birders found their first record Roseate Spoonbill in northcentral Maine. In between those two exciting records, a flock of spoonbills was found in far southeast Missouri; and in northeast Arkansas, five spoonbills were reported. Would you believe a Roseate Spoonbill was also sighted in southeast Pennsylvania, and add up another spoonbill in central Ohio (Ohio birders have found at least five this summer).

More state records this week! In Washington, birders are re-finding the state’s first record Painted Redstart among a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets at Cape Flattery. Also, the state’s fourth record of a Northern Wheatear was found at Sunrise on Mount Rainier. At the opposite side of the continent, a first provincial record for Nova Scotia – a striking male Hooded Oriole was photographed on Seal Island. And in Tennessee, a first record Boat-tailed Grackle was reported near Nashville, well inland of this primarily coastal species.

How about raptors? A Swallow-tailed Kite dazzled birders in south-central Wisconsin. Another was found throughout the week in Topeka, Kansas; and yet another was found repeatedly in the Wasaga Beach area near Lake Huron in Ontario. Other far-out raptor finds this week included a Swainson’s Hawk that was photographed in the northeast corner of Tennessee, and in western New Mexico a Short-tailed Hawk was an unusual find, although this species is sometimes found across the border in southeast Arizona.

Speaking of southeast Arizona, the Sinaloa Wren was reported again, with news it at least attempted nesting this summer, the first incidence of nesting of this species north of Mexico. From three corners of the country, three other exciting songbirds were identified by diligent birders: A Yellow-green Vireo, a Latin American species, was photographed in central coastal California; in Florida, a Thick-billed Vireo, a Caribbean species, was identified on Key Biscayne; and Massachusetts birders found a western species, a Townsend’s Warbler, on Nantucket Island this week.

In the central part of the nation, a White Ibis was photographed in southeast Colorado (the state’s 10th record) and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was seen in east-central Colorado, not far from a Neotropic Cormorant sighting. South Dakota also had a Neotropic Cormorant in the town of Leola. Notably, this sighting was is only a few miles south of the state line of North Dakota where this species has yet to be recorded – and watch for a Roseate Spoonbill while you’re at it, considering that birders found spoonbills in neighboring Minnesota and Iowa during recent weeks.

Noteworthy for the southern mountains of British Columbia, a Snowy Plover was reported in Revelstoke. Across Canada, in Newfoundland, a Common Ringed Plover (common in the Old World at least) was photographed. In Ontario, birders located a young Snowy Egret at Rondeau, and others found a Purple Gallinule in Essex.

The northeast part of the continent continues to be the place to find Little Egrets, with individuals continuing in Maine and Newfoundland, and one Little Egret that flies back and forth along the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Zenaida Dove is also still being seen in the Miami, Florida area.

That’s a long list of very impressive Rare Birds! What will birders find next week?

Also refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2018/08/rare-bird-alert-august-3-2018.html

You can also often find more information about individual rare bird sightings from the state rare bird alert listserves, which you can access at http://birding.aba.org/