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 Limpkin 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
Lesser Goldfinch 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