New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, June 4, 2010:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* June 4, 2010
* NYNY1006.04

- Birds Mentioned:

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS+ (Onondaga County, NY)
WHITE-FACED IBIS+
MISSISSIPPI KITE+ (Montgomery County, NY)
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Blue-winged Teal
Red-necked Grebe
CORY'S SHEARWATER
Sooty Shearwater
WILSON'S STORM-PETREL
Cattle Egret
Willet (Western subspecies)
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
WILSON'S PHALAROPE
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Parasitic Jaeger
CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW
Acadian Flycatcher
Black-and-white Warbler
Ovenbird
Kentucky Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Grasshopper Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow
BLUE GROSBEAK

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

~ 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, June 4th, at 9:00 pm. The highlights of today's tape are WILSON'S PHALAROPE, WHITE-FACED IBIS, CORY'S SHEARWATER, WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW, BLUE GROSBEAK, and extralimital MISSISSIPPI KITE and BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS.

With migration pretty much done except for the shorebirds and a few offshore pelagics, it seems appropriate that last weekend's highlight was another WILSON'S PHALAROPE at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This female was present Saturday to Monday on the West Pond, but the actual number of Wilson's Phalaropes visiting Jamaica Bay this Spring was further complicated by what were probably two different females seen yesterday, with one on the northern portion of the East Pond, followed by one along the shore of the West Pond. Also spotted yesterday on the East Pond were a CATTLE EGRET and a drake BLUE-WINGED TEAL. Certainly unexpected at the Bay was a RED-NECKED GREBE reported from the West Pond Monday. And if visiting there, watch for an adult WHITE-FACED IBIS, noted recently at various locations around the West Pond, especially along the shoreline at the north end, where it was seen last Sunday.

Out on the South Shore of eastern Long Island, shorebird numbers at Cupsogue County Park and at adjacent Pike's Beach in West Hampton Dunes were pretty decent despite the shameful continued harvesting of horseshoe crabs there. Among the 8,000 or so shorebirds there Monday were a breeding plumaged WESTERN SANDPIPER, four WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS, and a WESTERN WILLET. The bulk of the shorebirds were comprised of ~4,000 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, 3,000 SANDERLINGS, 700 RUDDY TURNSTONES, 282 RED KNOTS, and 30 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Present among the terns gathered on the flats were two BLACK TERNS at Cupsogue and a ROYAL TERN at Pike's Beach.

A sea watch off Cupsogue produced the first CORY'S SHEARWATER of the season, but little else on Monday. On Sunday there had been four BLACK SKIMMERS and two ROSEATE TERNS on the Cupsogue flats.

A sea watch off Montauk Point Saturday morning yielded five SOOTY SHEARWATERS, six WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, and two BLACK TERNS, and Saturday afternoon two PARASITIC JAEGERS were spotted off Amagansett.

A sea watch from Robert Moses State Park early Sunday morning produced a SOOTY SHEARWATER and about eight WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS.

At Calverton Sunday GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS were singing both on the former Grumman Airport property and at fields just north of the airport, where two BLUE GROSBEAKS, one a singing adult male, were also present.

Now that breeding season is in full swing, we'd like to remind people to keep disturbance to an absolute minimum when visiting nesting areas, especially those of sensitive or locally rare species, the latter including the BLUE GROSBEAKS on eastern Long Island and the KENTUCKY WARBLER singing for a few days, at least to Monday, at Rockefeller State Park in Westchester County. Disturbance could disrupt a nesting attempt, and we should be looking to assist such prospective species, not discouraging them. This would also extend to the CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOWS, which have been heard recently at several eastern Long Island sites on the South Fork, and to the MISSISSIPPI KITES, at least one of which has returned to last year's location in the town of Root up in Montgomery County.

As another extralimital note of interest, five BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS put in a brief appearance Monday at Brewerton on Cayuga Lake - a potential first New York State accepted record.

Some late land bird migrants continue to drift through, with the north end of Central Park producing ACADIAN FLYCATCHER and MOURNING WARBLER Wednesday, while much more compact Bryant Park in central Manhattan still hosted BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, OVENBIRD and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT the same day. Another later migrant, NELSON'S SPARROW, was noted at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn on Monday and in Rye 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 TAPE~]

~ End Transcript ~