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America's Rare and Scarce Birds
Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Pharr, TX, April 2005
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1996, Steve Mlodinow and Michael O'Brian authored the excellent
guide, “America's 100 Most Wanted Birds,” published by Falcon
Publishing Inc. Here they documented the most regularly occurring rare
birds in the lower 48 states, carefully listing most of the recent
records and offering guidance on how to find America's rarest birds.
Also included were several subspecies which, in the authors’ opinion,
had a “fair potential to be split into a full species.” This guide
serves as a great reference for getting to grips with the distribution
and occurance of some of the most exciting species on the ABA list, and
an excellent model for the selection of species for this page of the site.
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species listed in this book, Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii and
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata, formed a turning point in my
approach to documenting rare and interesting birds through
digi-scoping. In the winter of 2001/02 I saw both of these species in Arizona and California respectively. In fact I saw them so well that I deeply regretted not owning a digital camera. Shortly there after, I bought a Nikon Coolpix 995 which greatly
enhanced my approach to birding. Compact digital cameras have been an integral part of my field birding outfit ever since.
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Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Sawmill Canyon, AZ, 2004
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I'll
be updating these pages on a regular basis and only rare birds
photographed in the ABA area will be included. Each species will be coded following the ABA ranking system in which each species is allocated a number between 1 and 5 based on
its rarity avlue within the ABA recording area.
I'm anticipating this to be a work-in-progress for many years to come!
Good birding,
James P. Smith
Most recent additions:
Flame-colored Tanager, Madera Canyon, Santa Cruz Co., AZ. April 27th, 2007.
Aztec Thrush, Madera Canyon, Santa Cruz Co., AZ. July 29th, 2006.
Black-tailed Godwit, Plum Island, Essex Co., MA. July 23rd, 2006.
Red-necked Stint, New Haven Co., Milford Point, CT. July 16th, 2006.
- Click on an image to view more details of the species below
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| Masked Booby, FL, May 2005
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| Brown Booby, FL, May 2005 |
| Black Noddy, FL, May 2005 |
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| Antillean Nighthawk, FL, May 2005 |
| West Indian Cave Swallow,FL, May 2005 |
| Thick-billed Vireo, FL, May 2005 |
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| Boreal Owl, NYC, December 2004 |
| Great Gray Owl, Quebec, 2005 |
| Red-footed Falcon, MA, August, 2004 |
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