Category Archives: Rarities

Never Stop Birding: The Saga of a Bulgarian Mega

Posted on February 4, 2018 by harpyeagle1

Part One: The Discovery A couple days ago I decided to visit the Ethnographic Museum in the Old Town of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It was right around the corner from my hostel, located in a beautiful building, and just generally seemed … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Travel, Western Palearctic | Tagged Balkans, Bulgaria, Central Asia, first record, Hume's, Plovdiv, rarity, self-found, vagrant, warbler | 3 Comments

A Snowy End to the Year

Posted on January 28, 2018 by harpyeagle1

I returned from my self-imposed Bosnian exile in late December to celebrate the holidays with my friends and family for a couple weeks. My first port of call in the US was Delaware where I would be spending Christmas at … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Travel | Tagged ABA, Delaware, Longspur, National Wildlife Refuge, New Year, NWR, owl, Prime Hook, rough-legged hawk, snow bunting, snow goose, snowy, snowy owl | 4 Comments

A Vagrant is a Hard Thing to Pass Up

Posted on September 11, 2017 by harpyeagle1

This past week, a very interesting bird was found. The first state record for Maryland of sharp-tailed sandpiper (ABA Code 3) was discovered just south of Baltimore and about a 4 hour drive from Pittsburgh. I went back and forth … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities | Tagged Code 3, Hudsonian godwit, Hudwit, Maryland, migration, phalarope, sharp-tailed sandpiper, shorebirds, Siberian, vagrant | Leave a comment

Vagrants for Days…

Posted on February 7, 2017 by harpyeagle1

The past week has been pretty crazy (and exhausting) bird wise. It all started last Sunday when I was able to chase a slaty-backed gull that had been found a few days prior at Presque Isle State Park on Lake … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities | Tagged ABA, backed, Berks, Black, black-backed oriole, County, Erie, first, gull, pa, Pennsylvania, Presque isle, rarity, record, slaty-backed | Leave a comment

Tale of Three Vagrants

Posted on March 17, 2016 by harpyeagle1

For the past week I have been in Florida briefly before heading down to the Dominican Republic day after tomorrow (much more on that later). While it has not been a birding trip, I have had a bit of time … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Travel | Tagged ABA, Birding, Birds, Biscayne, black-faced, Boca Raton, code 4, code 5, Cuban, Dominican Republic, dove, Florida, grassquit, Hispaniola, key, Largo, Long Key, Miami, pewee, rarity, South, south florida, state park, travel, vagrant, Zenaida | 3 Comments

Cleaning up South Florida Specialties — March 2015

Posted on November 26, 2015 by harpyeagle1

Lifers Denoted by Bold Over the past spring break, my family went down to spend a week in South Florida. Having been to Florida twice before, I had seen a lot of the specialty birds to be found there. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Travel | Tagged Birding, Birds, dry, Everglades, exotic, flamingo, Florida, La Sagra's flycatcher, lifers, national park, rarity, Sandy Komito, South, south florida, specialty, Tern, tortugas, travel, twitching | Leave a comment

Western Kingbird — Carbon County, PA

Posted on November 26, 2015 by harpyeagle1

A few weeks ago, I was able to chase a continuing western kingbird in Carbon County, PA. This was a great state lifer for me and a really great bird to see in the state. While I haven’t found time … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities | Tagged Birding, Birds, Carbon county, kingbird, pa, Pennsylvania, rarity, state, twitching, western | Leave a comment

Franklin’s Mania 2k15 — PA Edition

Posted on November 24, 2015 by harpyeagle1

As any birder in North America who hasn’t been living under a rock should know, last weekend saw a massive invasion of Franklin’s gulls to the east of a scale not seen since 1998 (meaning I was 1 month old … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Uncategorized | Tagged 2k15, Birding, Birds, black-bellied plover, Bonaparte's gull, Common, County, Erie, Franklin's, gull, Lake Erie, lakewatching, mania, merg, myrtle, pa, Pensylvania, Presque Isle State Park, rarity, red-breasted merganser, red-throated loon, sanderling, scoter, shorebirds, snow, snow bunting, state, surf, Tern, tim hortons, tundra swan, white-winged, yellow-rumped warbler | 9 Comments

The Final Days of Camp Chiricahua

Posted on July 20, 2015 by harpyeagle1

Lifers Denoted by Bold On the final full day of Camp Chiricahua, we woke up early in Patagonia to head towards Florida (pronounced Floreeda) Canyon. This was a spot I had been hoping to visit all trip as it was holding … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Rarities, Travel, Youth Birder Camps | Tagged 2014, Arizona, AZ, black-capped, camp, canyon, Chiricahua, cormorant, day, Florida, gnatcatcher, last, Madera, neotropic, plain-capped, rufous-capped, SE, starthroat, sunset, trogon, Tucson, warbler | Leave a comment

Day 10 of Camp Chiricahua — Patagonia

Posted on July 2, 2015 by harpyeagle1

Lifers Denoted by Bold Our first stop on day 10 was at the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Reserve. However, we got our first good bird of the day on the entrance road to the preserve before we had even reached the preserve itself. … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding, Mammals, Rarities, Travel, Youth Birder Camps | Tagged American, Arizona, birder, Birding, black-bellied, camp, common poorwill, elf, feeder, goldfinch, gray, grey hawk, hummingbird, kingbird, owl, Patagonia, Patton, peccary, Southeastern, Southwest, tropical, Virginia's warbler, whiskered-screech, whistling-duck, young | Leave a comment