A colorful male Hooded Oriole found at Weekiwachee Preserve north of Tampa established a Third State Record for Florida the last week of 2019.
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This week’s report includes rare bird sightings from the past three weeks with many exciting record birds, including a Northern Giant Petrel sighting that was truly gigantic as the First Record of the species for North America, the North Pacific, and Washington state! A number of other First State Record birds were confirmed including a Snail Kite, Western Tanager, and Tropical Kingbird in Georgia, Delaware, and Arkansas respectively. And guess where these exciting species were discovered recently: a Streak-backed Oriole, Common Pochard, King Eider, Gray Kingbird, and Yellow-billed Loon.
NORTH AMERICAN RECORD
First North American Record and First State Record Northern Giant Petrel – offshore Washington state (12-27 report)
STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS
First State Record Tropical Kingbird – Lake Saracen, Arkansas (12-20)
First State Record Western Tanager – Bombay Hook Refuge, Delaware (12-3)
First State Record Snail Kite – Okefenokee Refuge, Georgia (12-3)
Third State Record Hooded Oriole – Weekiwachee Preserve, Florida (12-27)
Seventh State Record Eastern Bluebird – Zion National Park, Utah (12-20)
Tenth State Record Prairie Falcon – Louisville, Kentucky (12-20)
REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS – Dec 20 Report
Prairie Falcon – near Weston, Ohio
Eastern Phoebe – Olympia, Washington
Pacific Wren – near Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lazuli Bunting – Arlington, Virginia
McCown’s Longspur – Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario
Townsend’s Warbler – Watertown, Massachusetts
King Eider – Bellingham, Washington
Slaty-backed Gull – Lower Monumental Dam, Washington
Lesser Black-backed Gull – Lower Monumental Dam, Washington
Slaty-backed Gull – Niagara Falls, New York
REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS – Dec 27 Report
Common Pochard – near Seward, Alaska
Barnacle Goose – Lower Makefield, Pennsylvania
Streak-backed Oriole – near Dudleyville, Arizona
Fork-tailed Flycatcher – Aransas Refuge, Texas
Varied Thrush – Menomonie, Wisconsin
Hooded Oriole – Seaside, Oregon
Field Sparrow – Death Valley National Park, California
REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS – Jan 3 Report
Crimson-collared Grosbeak – Santa Ana Refuge, Texas
Yellow-billed Loon – Aurora Reservoir, Colorado
Gray Kingbird – Chesapeake, Virginia
Ash-throated Flycatchers (5) – Sandy Hook, New Jersey
Townsend’s Warbler – Massapequa, New York
Lesser Black-backed Gull – Sparks, Nevada
Purple Sandpiper – Sandy Hook, Jacksonville, Florida
Purple Sandpiper – Presqu’ile, Ontario
CONTINUING RARE BIRDS
The following ultra-rare birds were first sighted and reported here during previous weeks, but continue to be monitored by birders, just in case new people wish to seek them:
Crimson-collared Grosbeak – Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Texas
Garganey – Salton Sea, California
Antillean Palm Swift – Marathon Key, Florida
La Sagra’s Flycatcher – Everglades National Park, Florida
As we begin the new year, and a new decade, you can be sure there will be lots of exciting rare finds to report herein throughout January and far beyond!
For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/ and scroll down to reach the Rare Birds report. Also see http://blog.aba.org/2019/12/rare-bird-alert-december-27-2019.html and http://blog.aba.org/2019/12/rare-bird-alert-december-20-2019.html for the rest of the past three weeks of rare bird info. 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/