The PYRRHULOXIA is a rare vagrant to California, mostly in the extreme southeast, with a smattering of occurrences around the seasons. There are a tiny handful of nesting attempts.
All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left or some other unique circumstance). These are my personal Pyrrhuloxia records:
H 7/18/74 Garvey Rd. nr Westmorland, IMP singing male; this was my first rarity find in the stateSee the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2001 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
6/12/77 Chemuhuevi Wash, N of Vidal Junction SBE pair
nested here for 1st CA breeding; description in my notes
I 5/29/95 Chemuhuevi Wash, N of Vidal Junction SBE
3 males, female carrying nesting material; typed description & photos; a male was previously known but we (Rita Carratello, Bruce Barrett & I) discovered the female and the add’l males