Birders were excited to find the First State Record of a Hermit Warbler in Maryland, close to the state’s border with West Virginia.

Two exciting First State Records were reported by birders last week – the first Hermit Warbler was found in Maryland, and the first Cassin’s Kingbird in New Jersey. An interesting collection of godwits was observed in the San Francisco Bay area, where a rare Hudsonian Godwit joined a flock of Marbled Godwits along with a very rare Bar-tailed Godwit that was identified as belonging to the Siberian subspecies. Some birders were actually able to photograph all three species in a single frame. Another curiosity was the sighting of an American Flamingo at a wetland that straddles the border of Louisiana and Mississippi.

STATE & PROVINCIAL RECORDS

First State Record Hermit Warbler – Herrington Manor State Park, Maryland

First State Record Cassin’s Kingbird – Cape May Point, New Jersey

Second State Record Yellow-green Vireo – Monomoy Refuge, Massachusetts

Seventh State Record Pomarine Jaeger – Giant Springs State Park, Montana

Eighth State Record LeConte’s Sparrow – McNary Refuge, Washington

REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Olive-backed Pipit – Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

Red-throated Pipit – Nanaimo, British Columbia

White Wagtail – San Clemente Island, California

Pink-footed Goose – Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec

Tufted Duck – South Kingston, Rhode Island

American Flamingo – Eagle Lake, Louisiana

American Flamingo – Eagle Lake, Mississippi

Rufous-capped Warbler – Kinney County, Texas

MORE REALLY RARE SIGHTINGS

Bar-tailed Godwit – Half Moon Bay, California

Hudsonian Godwit – Half Moon Bay, California

LeConte’s Sparrow – Damariscotta, Maine

LeConte’s Sparrow – Deerfield, Massachusetts

Black-throated Gray Warbler – Falmouth, Massachusetts

Townsend’s Warbler – Pouch Cove, Newfoundland

Varied Thrush – Long Point, Ontario

Tropical Kingbird – near St. George, Utah

Black Scoter – Yuma County, Arizona

Neotropic Cormorant – Irvine, California

CONTINUING RARE BIRDS

The Antillean Palm Swift found a few weeks ago, which was only the Second North American Record for this species, is being reported again by birders on Marathon Key in south Florida. Also, the Nazca Booby, presumably the same bird observed earlier, continues in California. Watch for the next rare bird in your state or province.

For more information, see the American Birding Association’s Rare Bird Alert at http://blog.aba.org/2019/10/rare-bird-alert-october-18-2019.html 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/