New York City Rare Bird Alert

Here is the latest Rare Bird Alert report.
---
RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* December 17, 2004
* 04.12.17

- Transcript
hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
number: 212-979-3070

to report sightings call:
- Tom Burke (212) 297-4804 on weekdays
- Tony Lauro (631) 734-4126 for Long Island

compiler: Tom Burke
coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

transcriber: Andrew Guthrie

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings! This is the New York City RBA for Friday, December 17th at 12 noon.

The highlights of today's tape are AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, CAVE SWALLOW, SNOWY OWL, and EURASIAN WIGEON.

Last Sunday, a little after 2 p.m., an AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN was seen flying by Baldwin Park in Baldwin, heading across the bay towards the Jones Beach-Point Lookout area. It has not been relocated.

In Central Park the Selasphorous HUMMINGBIRD, believed to be a female RUFOUS, was last seen at Strawberry Fields on Monday, but the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and WOOD THRUSH were still there Thursday. A male WILSON'S WARBLER was also still at the Conservatory Garden Thursday, and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was reported from the Ramble Sunday.

At least one of the two ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS was still being seen in Prospect Park through yesterday. Both birds, seen together a couple of times in the past week, have been frequenting the edges of the open field on the Peninsula on the north side of Prospect Lake, or have been along Wellhouse Drive, including near the brick building or moving up the side of Lookout Hill. Also in Prospect, the NASHVILLE and WILSON'S WARBLERS were present at least to Sunday, and the park has been hosting three PIED-BILLED GREBES, two WOOD DUCKS, up to 250 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, a male RING-NECKED DUCK, and such passerines as WINTER WREN, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, HERMIT THRUSH and FOX SPARROW.

Thursday morning a very freshly deceased CAVE SWALLOW was found under the I-95 Thruway bridge next to the Rye train station in Westchester County, providing a first county record. The bird apparently was roosting under the bridge for the night and froze to death.

A SNOWY OWL was seen again last Sunday along the beach at Jones Beach West End. This bird ranges from the jetty to east of the Roosevelt Nature Center. If you are fortunate enough to see this bird, please do not disturb it.

A drake EURASIAN WIGEON was still present over the weekend at the top of Gerritson Creek in Marine Park, Brooklyn, and two were reported from Jamaica Bay Refuge's West Pond Sunday, with one there Thursday.

An adult BALD EAGLE was spotted Tuesday morning on Staten Island at the William T. Davis Refuge, flying towards the landfill. Out east, a small CANADA GOOSE, thought to be a CACKLING, the newly split grouping of the small forms, was at the Grumman Pond along Grumman Boulevard in Calverton late last week. A EURASIAN WIGEON was on Deep Hole Creek on the south side of New Suffolk Avenue beyond Maratooka Lake in Mattituck on Tuesday, and an apparent hybrid WIGEON was there Sunday.

At Shinnecock Sunday there were four COMMON EIDERS and 12 RAZORBILLS.

Two TURKEY VULTURES were over Van Cortlandt Park yesterday.

We will be happy to report highlights of our local Christmas Counts, so please phone in your results.

For information on a pelagic Christmas Count out of Belmar, NJ on December 31st, call See Life Paulagics at 215-234-6805 or visit their website at www.paulagics.com.

To phone in reports, on Long Island call Tony Lauro at 631-734-4126, or on weekdays call Tom Burke at 212-297-4804.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York, www.linnaeansociety.org, and the National Audubon Society.

Thank you for calling.

END TAPE