An alert birder in the Tampa Bay area of Florida sighted a Great-tailed Grackle, which established a new First State Record.

Three new state records were established by birders, including 2 First State Records: a Great-tailed Grackle in Florida and a Green-breasted Mango in Mississippi. In addition, a Fifth State Record White-winged Dove was photographed at a feeding station in Alaska. Aside from a Neotropic Cormorant found in Kentucky other rare birds excitement is generated by the impressive variety of Continuing Rare Birds, including the Steller’s Sea Eagle in Maine, the Red-flanked Bluetail in California, the Common Crane and Whooper Swan in Washington, and several others.

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First State Record Great-tailed Grackle – Tierra Verde, Florida

First State Record Green-breasted Mango – Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Fifth State Record White-winged Dove – Petersburg, Alaska

REALLY RARE BIRDS

Neotropic Cormorant – Lake Barkley, Kentucky

CONTINUING REALLY RARE BIRDS

Steller’s Sea Eagle – Maine

Red-flanked Bluetail – California

Common Crane – Washington

Whooper Swan – Washington

Common Shelduck – Pennsylvania

LaSagra’s Flycatcher – Florida

Bahama Mockingbird – Florida

Little Stint – California

Curlew Sandpiper – California

Streak-backed Oriole – California

For more information, refer to the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at Rare Bird Alert: February 24, 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/