New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 3, 2010:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 3, 2010
* NYNY1012.03

- Birds mentioned

BARNACLE GOOSE+
COMMON GROUND-DOVE+ (not seen since 21-Nov)
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE+ (no very current reports)
CAVE SWALLOW+
VARIED THRUSH+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Tundra Swan
Harlequin Duck
Little Gull
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Razorbill
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lapland Longspur
White-winged Crossbill

** EXTRALIMITAL - Stamford, Connecticut:
FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER

- 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, December 3rd 2010 at 6pm. The highlights of today's tape are VARIED THRUSH, COMMON GROUND-DOVE, FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER in Stamford, CAVE SWALLOW, the Jones Beach shrike identification, BLACK-HEADED GULL, BARNACLE GOOSE, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and much more.

The continuing run of very interesting birds was topped this week by a fairly accommodating VARIED THRUSH found [Sunday] in Central Park and still present today around what is referred to as the Maintenance Field. This site is closest to the east side of the park on the south side of the 79th Street transverse through the park. From the 5th Avenue & 79th Street park entrance go straight in and up the path starting at the south side of this intersection, continue up the hill and cross Central Park drive north walk down to a couple of buildings including the Rambles shed. The thrush has especially favored the denser growth on the upslope just north of the path but look also around the field perimeter on the south side of the path.

Also in Manhattan an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was at Riverside Park today.

The COMMON GROUND-DOVE, not noted around Captree State Park since November 21st, was apparently flushed last Sunday from a traffic circle off Ocean Parkway a little west of the Captree entrance. Specifically it was the circle one circumnavigates when driving west from Captree and turning to get onto the Robert Moses Causeway heading to Fire Island. Habitat there is quite similar to the Ground-Dove's haunts when at Captree. Please keep us informed of any additional sightings.

Following 3 or 4 CAVE SWALLOWS at Jones Beach West End on Thursday the 25th was a single at Mount Loretto Park off Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island on the 26th. Two more were seen over Manhattan Thanksgiving Day.

The FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER at Cove Island Park in Stamford, Connecticut was still present today. This park can be reached from exit 9 off I-95 in Stamford going south on Seaside Avenue and east on Cove Road to the park. The flycatcher is in the sanctuary off the southwestern corner of the large parking lot.

Quite an eye opener was a BARNACLE GOOSE that was spotted last Saturday at Orchard Beach in the Bronx. Following up on the leg band, that unfortunately has impeded the bird's ability to walk, it's been learned that this goose was banded as a juvenile on the Isle of Islay in Scotland on November 13th
2002. It had returned to Scotland for at least 2 subsequent winters before now appearing in the Bronx as an 8 year old. Confirmation of truly vagrant BARNACLE GEEESE has been hard to come by. So this is a very positive finding.

Quite interesting has been the Internet discussions over the shrike, present at Jones Beach West End since October 30th. The analysis of size and structure apparently indicating this is actually a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE but based mainly on plumage characters that had been felt to be a smallish Northern Shrike. Your RBA editor [Tom Burke], having been in the Northern camp, is now leaning towards Loggerhead given the apparent plumage variation that can be shown by that species. With apologies to those not having seen the bird and wanting to see a Loggerhead Shrike we unfortunately have no very current reports of the bird which had been ranging around the dunes at the Roosevelt Nature Center occasionally even sitting on the boardwalk there.

Also at Jones Beach West End a WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL was in the median last Friday, one or more LAPLAND LONGSPURS continue around the dunes, sometimes with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was southwest of field 2 Sunday.

Three HARLEQUIN DUCKS were in the boat basin by the Coast Guard Station Thursday and it has also been seen at Point Lookout where an immature BLACK-HEADED GULL was with Bonapartes in a flock last Sunday. This flock, ranging around the inlet recently, last Saturday, also contains 3 LITTLE GULLS, one an adult.

Two ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were at Massapequa Preserve Tuesday with another WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL spotted from Robert Moses State Park last Saturday. Seventeen RAZORBILLS were note off there the day before.

Out east the count of RAZORBILLS off Montauk Point peaked at 100 plus Thursday with a HARLEQUIN DUCK or two also around there. Five TUNDRA SWANS arrived at Hook Pond in East Hampton last Friday and 5 or so GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE have been seen around Hook Pond and nearby Further Lane. Recent LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS have been seen at Captree State Park and Lido Beach west of Shinnecock Inlet.

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