New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 20, 2019:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 19, 2019
* NYNY1912.19

- Birds Mentioned

BARNACLE GOOSE+
COMMON MURRE+
THICK-BILLED MURRE+
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Brant
EURASIAN WIGEON
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Red-necked Grebe
American Oystercatcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
American Woodcock
Wilson’s Snipe
Razorbill
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black Skimmer
Northern Gannet
GOLDEN EAGLE
Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Phoebe
NORTHERN SHRIKE
House Wren
Marsh Wren
European Starling
LAPLAND LONGSPUR
Vesper Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
Eastern Meadowlark
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Wilson’s Warbler

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

Gary Chapin - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

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

Compiler: Tom Burke
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
Transcriber: Gail Benson

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, December 19, 2019 at 9:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are COMMON and THICK-BILLED MURRES, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, BARNACLE and GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, EURASIAN WIGEON, HARLEQUIN DUCK and KING EIDER, GOLDEN EAGLE, NORTHERN SHRIKE, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and more.

Fortunately for the Captree Christmas Bird Count last Sunday, the weather conditions prompted a nice flight of large alcids offshore during the early morning; counters at Robert Moses State Park were treated to over 630 RAZORBILLS and were able to also identify single COMMON and THICK-BILLED MURRES as the birds moved westward just offshore.

Out in the Calverton area the female-type YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was still around to last Sunday, at least, in a large flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, COMMON GRACKLES, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS and EUROPEAN STARLINGS – the flock was usually found off Sound Avenue near the Lewin Farm, located at 812 Sound Avenue.

The BARNACLE GOOSE roosting at Belmont Lake State Park was noted there as recently as Wednesday, while a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE in lower Westchester was on its Rye Brook Pond recently but also visited Playland Lake in Rye yesterday.

A EURASIAN WIGEON appeared on Cooper’s Neck Pond in Southampton Sunday and Monday, and another was spotted Wednesday in Cold Spring Harbor north of Route 25.

Three HARLEQUIN DUCKS were still off Orient Point Wednesday, and a drake was seen at Shinnecock Inlet Sunday.

Unusual was a female KING EIDER on Sterling Lake in Orange County’s Sterling Forest State Park last weekend.

An immature GOLDEN EAGLE was seen being mobbed by RED-TAILED HAWKS over the Riverhead sod fields near Sound Avenue and Northville Turnpike last Sunday.

The adult NORTHERN SHRIKE at Heckscher State Park was seen last Saturday but did not appear for the Christmas Count Sunday.

An immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was still in Central Park’s north end Wednesday, and an adult found Monday at Pelham Bay Park was still at Hunter’s Island Wednesday.

An immature ICELAND GULL and a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL were spotted along the East River Monday off 51st Street in Manhattan, and a RED-NECKED GREBE was off Breezy Point Wednesday.

A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was spotted in Prospect Park Sunday, while another was still at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye Wednesday.

Last Sunday the Brooklyn Christmas Count recorded a nice 129 species , with their highlights including ICELAND and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS, BLACK SKIMMER, 11 AMERICAN WOODCOCKS, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, EASTERN PHOEBE, HOUSE WREN, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, LINCOLN’S and VESPER SPARROWS, BALTIMORE ORIOLE, and, among the WARBLERS, OVENBIRD, BLACK-AND-WHITE, ORANGE-CROWNED, NASHVILLE, and WILSON’S.

The Captree Count Sunday netted 127 species; besides the alcids and BARNACLE GOOSE noted above, other notables featured LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, ICELAND GULL, the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK recently along Ocean Parkway, EASTERN PHOEBE, MARSH WREN, AMERICAN REDSTART, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, 2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS and 3 EASTERN MEADOWLARKS.

The Queens Count on Sunday totaled 118 species including AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER, 5 WILSON’S SNIPES, 12 RAZORBILLS and HOUSE WREN. Unfortunately, the prior week’s Ash-throated Flycatcher was last seen on Friday the 13th and did not make the Count.

The Greenwich-Stamford Count, including parts of Westchester County, recorded 106 species Sunday, including 2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, ICELAND and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS, NORTHERN GANNET, 10 RAZORBILLS, EASTERN PHOEBE and HOUSE WREN, while among the Rockland Count’s 87 species Sunday were BRANT and a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.

To phone in reports please call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922 and leave a message.

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

- End transcript