New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 8, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Apr. 8, 2011
* NYNY1104.08

- Birds mentioned

VARIED THRUSH+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Common Eider
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Northern Gannet
Little Blue Heron
Glossy Ibis
Greater Yellowlegs
ICELAND GULL
GLAUCOUS GULL
Short-eared Owl
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Phoebe
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Rusty Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Redpoll

- 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, April 8th 2011 at 9pm. The highlights of today's tape are VARIED THRUSH, GLAUCOUS GULL, ICELAND GULL, HARLEQUIN DUCK, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and Spring migrants.

A little burst of migrants this week indicates that Spring will come after all.

In Central Park the lingering VARIED THRUSH was, as of last weekend, still moving about between the maintenance area just south of the 79th Street transverse and the south side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art closer to 5th Avenue. While the slowly changing RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was still south of the Sheep Meadow recently. The Rambles feeder last Sunday were 2 COMMON REDPOLLS presumably heading back north.

Most emphasis now has centered around tracking down Spring arrivals. One of the better local sites in early Spring for this is Hempstead Lake State Park where an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER found last Sunday was still present at least to Wednesday. Other warblers there featured PINE WARBLER, PALM WARBLER with a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER Wednesday and a BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER Thursday plus growing numbers of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. In addition a WHITE-EYED VIREO appeared Wednesday, a BLUE-HEADED VIREO Thursday along with a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. Swallows over the ponds there on Thursday included NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, BARN SWALLOW and CLIFF SWALLOW as well as TREE SWALLOW and the park has also featured other interesting birds including WOOD DUCK and RUSTY BLACKBIRD.

Another arriving warbler was a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH in Brooklyn's Green-wood Cemetery Wednesday.

EASTERN PHOEBES are now quite widespread and numbers of most of these migrants should increase quickly with others joining them.

Different arrivals at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge joining the egrets there featured LITTLE BLUE HERON and GLOSSY IBIS as of Thursday along with BLUE-WINGED TEAL one of which was also in Alley Pond Park last Sunday.

Out at Point Lookout last Saturday the immature ICELAND GULL and 8 HARLEQUIN DUCKS continued around the jetties and the barrier beach produced some expected migrants during the week. NORTHERN GANNETS continue on western Long Island Sound and 10 were counted Thursday in Little Neck Bay.

Moving east on Dune Road west of Shinnecock Inlet a SHORT-EARED OWL was still present Thursday and a few COMMON EIDER and a decent number of NORTHERN GANNETS were around the inlet. The immature GLAUCOUS GULL was still frequenting the area around the Orient Point ferry terminal last Sunday.

Interesting for Westchester County was a male BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE singing at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye last Saturday and a good flock of 30 GREATER YELLOWLEGS there today is an indication that shorebirds are also on there way north.

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or during the week 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 transcript