Rare Birds of Arkansas

Birds are considered rare when they appear at unexpected places or at unexpected times. A bird commonly seen at a winter feeding station for instance is probably rare in the dog days of summer. Other species are simply not expected to be in our state at all. This list is of those species with ten or fewer records for which careful details are evaluated by the Arkansas Records Committee to add to our collective knowledge of bird distribution.

Tundra Bean-Goose Brant Barnacle Goose Garganey
Eurasian Wigeon Tufted Duck Barrow's Goldeneye Ruffed Grouse
Least Grebe White-throated Swift Mexican Violetear Rivoli's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird Allen's Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Broad-billed Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird Black Rail Whooping Crane Wilson's Plover
Mountain Plover Snowy Plover Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper Pomarine Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Long-billed Murrelet
Black-headed Gull Short-billed Gull California Gull Great Black-backed Gull
Sooty Tern Bridled Tern Gull-billed Tern Royal Tern
Black Skimmer Yellow-billed Loon Brown Booby Northern Gannet
Northern Goshawk Snowy Owl Lewis's Woodpecker Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara Ash-throated Flycatcher Great Kiskadee Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird Cassin's Kingbird Gray Kingbird Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Northern Shrike Clark's Nutcracker Bohemian Waxwing Sage Thrasher
Mountain Bluebird Varied Thrush Northern Wheatear Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Brambling Pine Grosbeak Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Thick-billed Longspur
Snow Bunting Cassin's Sparrow Lark Bunting Brewer's Sparrow
Green-tailed Towhee Bullock's Oriole Scott's Oriole Black-throated Gray Warbler
Painted Redstart