New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, March 25, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* March 25, 2011
* NYNY1103.25

- Birds Mentioned:

VARIED THRUSH+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

ROSS'S GOOSE
Wood Duck
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
American Kestrel
Piping Plover
American Oystercatcher
Red Knot
American Woodcock
Laughing Gull
ICELAND GULL
GLAUCOUS GULL
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
Eastern Meadowlark
Brown-headed Cowbird
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL


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 AT nybirds.org .

If electronic submission is not possible, hard copy reports and photos or sketches are welcome. Hard copy 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 (during the day except Sunday)
Tony Lauro (631) 734-4126

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, March 25th, at 8:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are VARIED THRUSH, ROSS'S GOOSE, HARLEQUIN DUCK, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, GLAUCOUS GULLS, ICELAND GULLS, and RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.

The overwintering VARIED THRUSH was still in Central Park last weekend but was being seen more regularly closer to Fifth Avenue and the south side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art than in the maintenance area on the south side of the 79th Street Transverse. The immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was also still on the south of the Sheep Meadow, around the 66th Street Transverse.

A BALD EAGLE cruised past Riverside Park on Saturday.

Last Saturday at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, an adult ROSS'S GOOSE was spotted in a Snow Goose congregation at the south end of the West Pond. The ROSS'S also appeared early Sunday morning with Snow Geese in the marsh north of the West Pond, but has not been reported since. A SNOWY EGRET was at Jamaica Bay on Monday, and a few LAUGHING GULLS have been appearing in that area.

A nice surprise last Saturday morning involved nine WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, including a couple of adult males, that fed in the pines at Gilgo before flying off. Also unexpected along the Jones strip was an early GRASSHOPPER SPARROW reported Sunday morning at the Roosevelt Nature Center at Jones Beach West End. This sparrow was near the boardwalk, but could not be relocated later. Two EASTERN BLUEBIRDS appeared Saturday, and two overwintering RED KNOTS were still roosting with Black-bellied Plovers in the dunes at the Nature Center Sunday, when TREE SWALLOWS were very evident.

Across Jones Inlet at Point Lookout, a fish run last Friday attracted an immature GLAUCOUS GULL and an adult ICELAND GULL, and up to eight HARLEQUIN DUCKS continue along the inlet and ocean jetties at Point Lookout. A PIPING PLOVER and many AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS have also been along the beach west of the westernmost jetty, and an immature ICELAND GULL was noted Sunday in the inlet.

Moving east, out at the Grumman Grasslands in Calverton, a nice number of AMERICAN KESTRELS included about a dozen on Tuesday, and EASTERN BLUEBIRD and some EASTERN MEADOWLARKS have also been evident there, while two GREAT EGRETS flew by last Saturday.

An immature ICELAND GULL continues to visit Iron Pier Beach in Northville, and an immature GLAUCOUS GULL was in Goldsmith's Inlet in Peconic on the North Fork on Tuesday.

Other spring migrants not mentioned above that have been becoming more evident lately include WOOD DUCK, TURKEY VULTURE, OSPREY, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, EASTERN PHOEBE, BROWN CREEPER, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.

For information on Sunday's pelagic trip from Freeport, call See Life Paulagics at (215) 234-6805, or visit their website at http://www.paulagics.com .

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or during the day except Sunday 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 ~