Weekly Rare Bird Report

Below is the weekly Rare Bird Alert for New York City, Long Island and Westchester County:

Subject: NYC Area RBA: 20 November 2009
From: Karen Fung
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:16:54 -0500

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Nov 20, 2009
* NYNY0911.20

- Birds Mentioned:

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE+
BARNACLE GOOSE+
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD+

CACKLING GOOSE
Common Eider
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe+ (not reported this week)
Northern Gannet
Cattle Egret
Bald Eagle
Common Moorhen
Red Knot
Sanderling
White-rumped Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Lesser Black-backed Gull
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
Black Skimmer
Common Raven
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Snow Bunting

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 nysarc1@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

~ Transcript ~

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

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

Compilers: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
Transcriber: Karen Fung

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, November 20th, at 7:00 pm. The highlights of today's tape are PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, BARNACLE GOOSE, CACKLING GOOSE, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, and HARLEQUIN DUCKS.

The single PINK-FOOTED, BARNACLE, and CACKLING GEESE continue in the vicinity of Sunken Meadow State Park, north of Smithtown on the north shore of Long Island. On Sunday the geese spent all of the afternoon up until at least 4:45pm feeding with Canadas on the ball fields at Kings Park High School, apparently taking advantage of the lack of activity in the field. Kings Park High School is on the south side Route 25A, 1.5 miles east of the Sunken Meadow Parkway and across from the Kings Park post office. On Thursday the PINK-FOOTED and the CACKLING GOOSE were back at Sunken Meadow State Park, on the lawns east of the entrance road.

The young male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was last Saturday still visiting the feeders and yard at 122 Hillside Avenue in the Grymes Hill section of northeastern Staten Island, and the homeowner welcomes birders to look for the hummingbird, but do be careful if parking on Hillside Avenue. [Transcriber's late update: The homeowner reported that the hummer visited his feeders today at 4pm.]

The Piermont Pier WESTERN GREBE was not seen last Saturday, and it presumably was the same bird appearing off South Amboy, NJ on Sunday.

A very dynamic day out at Montauk Point Saturday featured six BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, plus over 300 COMMON EIDER and 2,000 NORTHERN GANNETS, as well as lots of other sea ducks and loons.

Two LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were found on the pasture at the Deep Hollow Dude Ranch on the south side of Route 27, west of the Point, with another LESSER BLACK-BACKED in the surf off the town of Montauk.

In the Jones Beach area, two drake HARLEQUIN DUCKS were still present Sunday along the inlet jetty, on the Point Lookout side of Jones inlet. Also feeding along this jetty were DUNLIN and SANDERLINGS, with single WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER and PURPLE SANDPIPER. About 100 COMMON EIDER were around this jetty and the sandbars inside the inlet Sunday. And 25 SNOW BUNTINGS were also at West End.

At Jones Beach Field 6 Sunday, the roosting shorebird flock featured ~120 RED KNOT. At the east end of the Jones strip Sunday, a YELLOW WARBLER was found at Captree State Park, and a RED-NECKED GREBE was seen in Great South Bay off Captree.

Interestingly, another YELLOW WARBLER plus an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER were at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye on Monday.

On Thursday a CATTLE EGRET was spotted around Field B at Floyd Bennett Field, this continuing what has become somewhat of a trend in recent years of these late season appearances of Cattle Egret. The egret was seen again today.

Last Sunday in Brooklyn, 27 COMMON EIDER were seen off Brighton Beach, and four late BLACK SKIMMERS were lingering off the western end of the Coney Island boardwalk.

A COMMON RAVEN was seen again Monday around the Nassau County Art Museum in Roslyn, and a COMMON MOORHEN found on the pond at the end of Garvies Point Road in Glen Cove back in late September was still present there last Saturday.

An immature BALD EAGLE visited Long Pond in Sag Harbor on Tuesday.

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 ~