Date: 6/10/26 10:58 am From: Steve Shultz (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Garganey and the Demise of the Listserve
The booby was an amazing inland bird!
From an ABA perspective, they are fairly easy since they breed in Hawaii. I choose not to count Hawaii birds on my ABA list, but others do, and the rules allow. Otherwise, there have been about a hundred accepted continental records for that species.
The bluetail is an amazing record too! … but my post was about nationally rare birds found in NC 😉
Steve Shultz
> On Jun 10, 2026, at 1:06 PM, Robert Lewis <rfermat...> wrote:
>
> Steve Shultz wrote:
>
>> But back to the Garganey. There is one being seen at Pea Island in Dare County (found by Audrey Whitlock.) It’s an amazing find. This is perhaps the rarest chasable bird to grace North Carolina in a decade. Most “rare birds” aren’t. They are locally rare, slightly late, slightly early, or uncommon. This duck is rare. It is continentally rare. Virtually no one in NC has seen one in NC, and few have seen one in the United States, especially an alternate plumaged drake. It’s a big deal*.
>
> No doubt it's a great record. But I don't think it is quite as rare as Steve suggests. There are about 100 records in North America outside of Alaska, and 80 in Alaska. Furthermore, a pattern is beginning to appear of the bird appearing in the East in late May - early June. Now, Red-flanked Bluetail -- that's RARE!
>
> Personally, I still think the Red-footed Booby of a few years ago in Wake County is truly amazing. There are only two inland records in North America. (The other was in Alabama.) And yes, it was chaseable. I chased it! So did dozens of others.
>
> Bob Lewis
> Durham NC
