New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 29, 2010:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct. 29, 2010
* NYNY1010.29

- Birds mentioned

BARNACLE GOOSE+
MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD+
CAVE SWALLOW+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Eurasian Wigeon
Redhead
Harlequin Duck
Horned Grebe
American Bittern
Cattle Egret
Red-shouldered Hawk
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Marbled Godwit
Red Knot
Least Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
FRANKLIN'S GULL
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Parasitic Jaeger
DOVEKIE
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Philadelphia Vireo
Common Raven
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Vesper Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Dickcissel
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin

- Transcript

If followed by (+) please submit documentation of your report electronically and use the NYSARC online submission form found at http://www.nybirds.org/NYSARC/goodreport.htm

You can also send reports and digital image files via email to nysarc3 AT nybirds.org.

If electronic submission is not possible, hardcopy reports and photos or sketches are welcome. Hardcopy documentation should be mailed to:

Jeanne Skelly - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
420 Chili-Scottsville Rd.
Churchville, NY 14428

Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Number: (212) 979-3070

To report sightings call:
Tom Burke (212) 372-1483 (weekdays, during the day)
Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 (Long Island)

Compiler: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, October 29th 2010 at 9pm. The highlights of today's tape are MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD, FRANKLIN'S GULL, CAVE SWALLOW, BLACK-HEADED GULL, DOVEKIE, BARNACLE GOOSE and other migrants.

There were several interesting birds seen during the past week but the one attracting the most attention has been the male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER frequenting the plantings and adjacent public area around the front of the New York Public Library off 5th Ave. between 40th and 42nd St. The warbler has been searching for scraps on the ground, the stone wall and the tables near the lions on the front steps of the library usually in competition with House Sparrows and Rock Pigeons. Birders talking to library locals have been told the Prothonotary has been present for a few weeks doing the same routine. The bird was still there through Thursday evening but was not seen at all today. The good news is perhaps it figured out this migration thing.

On Tuesday a little after 4pm an immature type MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD was enjoyed briefly as it flew over the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. The bird moving off to the west.

Then on Wednesday 2 FRANKLIN'S GULLS were found. The first, a first winter bird, stayed for a short time with other gulls up on Fire Island at Robert Moses State Park parking field 5. Up to 4 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were also seen on the same lot on Wednesday. These a mix of adults and immatures. After the immature FRANKLIN'S GULL disappeared a birder searching for it found instead an adult at Captree State Park just across the bay from the Fire Island sighting. Neither Franklin's could be relocated on Thursday.

Last Sunday a BARNACLE GOOSE was found in a Canada flock on Belmont Lake State Park on the north side of the Southern State Parkway this approached from exits 37 and 38. Also at Belmont that day were a HOODED WARBLER and RUSTY BLACKBIRD. The Barnacle has not been seen since.

In Prospect Park in Brooklyn an AMERICAN BITTERN flew in Thursday and landed around the lake. Earlier in the week highlights at Prospect featured PHILADELPHIA VIREO and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK Wednesday and BALTIMORE ORIOLE and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH Tuesday, AMERICAN PIPIT, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and a HORNED GREBE on the lake on Monday and a VESPER SPARROW last Sunday.

On Sunday 2 COMMON RAVENS were spotted in southeastern Queens near the Idlewild Park Preserve. On the same day a raven appeared over Big John's Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge when an adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was also seen with it along with a single REDHEAD on the East Pond.

Three CATTLE EGRETS continued on Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn to Thursday and a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was noted last Saturday at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx with an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER reported at Breezy Point on Thursday.

Out at Jones Beach West End a MARBLED GODWIT was still present Saturday, Sunday and today around the bar at the Coast Guard Station or across the bay keeping company with the many American Oystercatchers there. An AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER appeared again Sunday on the coast guard bar with some RED KNOT and other shorebirds. Migrants at Jones Beach West End Saturday featured more PINE SISKINS and PURPLE FINCHES for the first time and also occurring were AMERICAN PIPIT, EASTERN MEADOWLARK and RUSTY BLACKBIRD.

A major flight of migrants this morning along the barrier beaches, especially at Robert Moses State Park and Jones Beach West End, featured good numbers of expected seasonal migrants and an estimated 300 PINE SISKINS and 100 PURPLE FINCHES. A YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO and a DICKCISSEL were also at West End and 2 VESPER SPARROWS were found at Kissena Park in Queens.

In northern Westchester a CAVE SWALLOW was seen flying around the landfill at Croton Point Park for awhile last Saturday and across the Hudson the EURASIAN WIGEON was still around Rockland Lake State Park to Thursday.

On eastern Long Island last Saturday a COMMON RAVEN was photographed in Montauk and also that day a BLACK-HEADED GULL appeared at Mecox.

An interesting report of an early DOVEKIE off Georgica comes from back on the 19th.

A PARASITIC JAEGER visited Montauk Point Sunday and a drake HARLEQUIN DUCK was spotted off Montauk yesterday while a CATTLE EGRET appeared today at the Mecox Dairy Farm off Mecox Road in Bridgehampton. A report from Tuesday noted 2 late BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS and a flock of 28 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS along with some BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS and 3 LEAST SANDPIPERS on the sod fields on the western side of Route 105 between the Northville Turnpike and Sound Avenue in Riverhead. The buff-breasts and goldens were not seen the next day.

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or weekdays call Tom Burke at (212) 372-1483.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript