New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 22, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* April 22, 2011
* NYNY1104.22

- Birds Mentioned:

VARIED THRUSH+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Common Eider
SOOTY SHEARWATER
Northern Gannet
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Broad-winged Hawk
Willet
Pectoral Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Chimney Swift
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Wood Thrush
Blue-winged Warbler
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Prairie Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Vesper Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Rusty Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole


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 (weekdays)
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, April 22nd, at 8:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are VARIED THRUSH, PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, SOOTY SHEARWATER, and spring migrants.

Slowly but predictably, increasing numbers of migrants continue to appear, but the principal rarity remains Central Park's VARIED THRUSH. The thrush is now being seen mostly on the north side of the 79th Street park transverse, closer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fifth Avenue than to the maintenance area that it had frequented for most of the winter. The RED-HEADED WOODPECKER also remains south of the Sheep Meadow around the 66th Street park transverse. Other Central Park highlights featured a second visit by the BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE near the Meer in the park's north end for most of Wednesday, and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER reported Monday, while other arriving migrants have included CHIMNEY SWIFT, BANK SWALLOW, CLIFF SWALLOW, WOOD THRUSH, ORCHARD ORIOLE, BALTIMORE ORIOLE, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and among the warblers, BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, PRAIRIE WARBLER, a WORM-EATING WARBLER Thursday at the north end, OVENBIRD, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and a HOODED WARBLER Thursday and Friday at the north end.

In Brooklyn's Prospect Park a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was spotted again Monday at the Lullwater. Also in Prospect, a WORM-EATING WARBLER was noted Monday, while other noteworthy species have featured GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER, two RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, such warblers as BLUE-WINGED, NORTHERN PARULA, PRAIRIE, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, OVENBIRD, and NORTHERN and LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSHES.

Two other YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS were noted recently: one at Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island last Monday and then again today, and another today at Connetquot River State Park, just south of the fish hatchery.

A male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, found on the 14th at Twin Lakes in the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, was still feeding today along the edge of the small pond that is behind the administration building. A nice mix of migrants has also been present there.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER lingering at Hempstead Lake State Park, was spotted last Sunday and again today, covering a good amount of territory around the lower end of the park.

Unexpectedly early would be a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH reported Wednesday in Manhattan's Bryant Park, in company with some Hermit Thrushes, this an identification that needs to be done quite carefully at this point in the migration.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, PECTORAL SANDPIPERS lingering along the south end of the West Pond reached five on Wednesday. LITTLE BLUE HERON, TRICOLORED HERON, and YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS are present in that area. On Sunday a white-winged looking gull, initially thought to be an Iceland, flew in much closer and was photographed on Terrapin Trail before it flew off, and its identification has not been established, perhaps an albino or hybrid. CLIFF SWALLOW has been occurring over the pond at the bay with other swallows recently.

On Sunday a VESPER SPARROW was spotted at Sunken Meadow State Park, and a CASPIAN TERN visited Lotus Lake in Sayville.

Farther east on Tuesday, EASTERN KINGBIRD and WILLET were noted along Dune Road, west of Shinnecock Inlet, where 30 COMMON EIDER are lingering. At Mecox Bay, two or three CASPIAN TERNS have been seen from Saturday through Tuesday, and another Caspian plus a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL were at Sag Pond on Tuesday. Two other adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were at Mecox Bay on Saturday, when a PECTORAL SANDPIPER and five WILSON'S SNIPE were spotted at Georgica Pond.

A sea watch off East Hampton Saturday afternoon produced an early SOOTY SHEARWATER and 527 NORTHERN GANNETS.

A hawk watch at Hook Mountain in Rockland County Thursday recorded 712 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS.

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 ~