Common birds are rare when they are found far beyond their normal range, such as the Gray Catbird found near Las Vegas last week – yet another “eastern” species found in Clark County, Nevada.
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The most exciting bird of the week was a Blue Bunting found in the southern tip of Texas, and among several rare flycatchers reported last week was the second Fork-tailed Flycatcher of the month for south Texas. A Little Stint was one of several interesting rare birds identified in the San Diego, California area. In southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, sightings of an Ancient Murrelet (or two) near the southeast shore of Lake Michigan captured the attention of area birders. Canada’s best off-course bird was a Black-headed Gull in Victoria, British Columbia that probably originated in Siberia, and there was also an exciting report cross-country in southern Ontario of a wayward Calliope Hummingbird visiting a feeder – and there’s more!
REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS
Blue Bunting – Cameron County, south Texas
Little Stint – San Diego, California
Black-headed Gull – Victoria, British Columbia
Calliope Hummingbird – Goderich, Ontario
White-winged Dove – Prince Edward Island, Canada
Ancient Murrelet – St. Joseph, Michigan
Ancient Murrelet – Gary, Indiana
RARE FLYCATCHERS
Fork-tailed Flycatcher – near Guy, Texas
Thick-billed Kingbird – San Diego, California
Tropical Kingbird – San Diego, California
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (2) – San Diego, California
Vermillion Flycatcher – Franklinton, Louisiana
MORE EXCITING RARE SIGHTINGS:
Varied Thrush – Mason City, Iowa
Gray Catbird – Clark County, Nevada
White-eyed Vireo – Montreal, Quebec
Sedge Wren – Eagle County, Colorado
Cape May Warbler – Pueblo, Colorado
Purple Sandpipers (3) – Muskegon, Michigan
Rare species reported here previous weeks that were still being observed last week included a Roadside Hawk and Golden-crowned Warbler in southern Texas, the Red-footed Booby south of Monterey, California and a LaSagra’s Flycatcher in southern Florida. Can’t wait until next week to see what exciting rare species birders are able to find.
For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2018/11/rare-bird-alert-november-24-2018.html
Special Thanks to Nate Swick, who does such a great job of compiling the ABA’s Rare Bird Alert, which we utilize in preparing 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/