A Eurasian shorebird that probably originated from Greenland, a Common Ringed Plover in basic winter plumage provided a rare encounter for birders at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Maine (photo by Alex Lamoreaux).

An exceptionally quiet week for rare bird sightings still yielded a first sighting of a Brewer’s Sparrow in New Brunswick, which established a First Provincial Record. An interesting plover in winter plumage turned out to be a Common Ringed Plover, observed by many birders at Rachel Carson Refuge in Maine, and a Lewis’s Woodpecker was an especially rare sighting for Ontario. Also, over the weekend, birders in Maine were treated to distant views of the Steller’s Sea Eagle, which had not been reported for a few weeks – this time perched along the Back River nearest Georgetown, not far from the coast in southeast Maine. Although there were only 3 new rare bird sightings to report, there are many exciting Continuing Rare Birds for birders to see – very rare birds that were reported previous weeks.

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First Provincial Record Brewer’s Sparrow – Quispamsis, New Brunswick

REALLY RARE BIRDS

Common Ringed Plover – Rachel Carson Refuge, Maine

Lewis’s Woodpecker – Billings, Ontario

CONTINUING REALLY RARE BIRDS

Steller’s Sea Eagle – Maine

Red-flanked Bluetail – California

Common Crane – Washington

Whooper Swan – Washington

Common Shelduck – Pennsylvania

Bahama Mockingbird – Florida

Streak-backed Oriole – California

LaSagra’s Flycatcher – Florida

Little Stint – California

For more information, refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at Rare Bird Alert: February 3, 2023 - American Birding Association (aba.org) 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 info 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/