Rare Bird Alert: November 3, 2017

The New Jersey Common Greenshank (ABA Code 3) continues to be a highlight among returning rarities, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of birders making their way to Forsyth NWR this week to find it. In Florida, a Thick-billed Vireo (4) is still accommodating birders at Bill Baggs State Park, and the long-staying California Blue-footed Booby (4) in the Farallones is still a pelagic highlight this week.

This week lacked the ABA Area rarities that we’ve become somewhat accustomed to this fall, but there is a very interesting 1st record to report. In Northwest Territories, not a place we typically get to mention in this space, a Blue Jay at a feeder in Thebacha represents a 1st territorial record. Blue Jays are currently showing up across the northwestern part of their range, the result of a region-wide irruption that has been noted in a number of mountain states and provinces. This record, however, is an early outlier.