Rare Bird Alert

Berylline Hummingbird (4) and Plain-capped Starthroat (4) continue in southeast Arizona, as do the Large-billed Terns (5) in Florida.

Another Lesser Sand-Plover (3) has graced the east coast of North America – or perhaps it’s the same bird, no one is quite sure – this time in Napatree, Rhode Island, representing a 1st for that state. Once again, this is a nominate mongolus bird, called Siberian Sand-Plover by some authorities.

Another plover of note this week comes from New Jersey, where a Mountain Plover in Stone Harbor is a 1st record for that state. It comes on the heels of a Mountain Plover in Massachusetts, which may well be the same bird as all other east coast records of this species are from late fall or winter.

And a surprising 1st for Pennsylvania in the form of an apparent Audubon’s Shearwater seen in the city of Philadelphia, flying over Batram’s Gardens on the Schuykill River. This species is a quite common warm water species offshore this time of year, but a bird that traversed the entire Delaware Bay and up a relatively narrow river is extraordinary.

Rare shorebird season has had a decidedly plover-y bent so far this year, as Pacific Golden-Plovers continue to turn up in the east, including one recently in Sumter Co, Florida, the state’s 5th.

In South Carolina, a Brown Booby (3) seen inland in Lexington Co, was taken in by rehabbers and eventually released.

Ontario only recorded its first Limpkin earlier this year, and birds in relatively close succession in Essex, Lambton, and Lanark counties represent the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th records respectively.

Minnesota had a Swallow-tailed Kite seen by many in Washington Co, the state’s 2nd modern record.

An Ancient Murrelet in remote Lewiston, Idaho, is surprisingly that state’s 6th record.

Oregon’s 9th Little Stint was seen near Portland this week.

And in Arizona, a Swallow-tailed Kite in Santa Cruz Co is the state’s 3rd.

Omissions and errors are not intended, but if you find any please message blog AT aba.org and I will try to fix them as soon as possible. This post is meant to be an account of the most recently reported birds. Continuing birds not mentioned are likely included in previous editions listed here. Place names written in italics refer to counties/parishes.

Readers should note that none of these reports has yet been vetted by a records committee. All birders are urged to submit documentation of rare sightings to the appropriate state or provincial committees. For full analysis of these and other bird observations, subscribe to North American Birds, the richly illustrated journal of ornithological record published by the ABA.