Rare Birds in California
Our list for California has 99 rare birds recorded regularly there: 20 residents, 15 summer visitors, 28 winter visitors, 34 passage migrants and 2 scarce visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · Oct
Share of all bird records in California in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 99, most common first
Little StintCalidris minutaPassage migrantRare13–15 cmRegularly Jul–Apr
Sharp-tailed SandpiperCalidris acuminataPassage migrantRare17–22 cmRegularly Sep–Oct
Yellow-bellied FlycatcherEmpidonax flaviventrisPassage migrantRare13–15 cmRegularly Apr–Sep
Barred OwlStrix variaResidentRare43–50 cmRecorded all year
Vega GullLarus vegaeWinter visitorRare55–67 cmRegularly Dec–Mar
Common RedpollAcanthis flammeaScarceRare12–14 cm
European GoldfinchCarduelis carduelisResidentRare12–13 cmRegularly Nov–Sep
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made