New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, May 27, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* May 27, 2011
* NYNY1105.27

- Birds Mentioned:

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK+ (Orange County)
Leach's Storm-Petrel+
WHITE IBIS+
BLACK-NECKED STILT+
Arctic Tern+
Atlantic Puffin+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Northern Fulmar
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Least Bittern
Common Moorhen
Upland Sandpiper
Red Knot
White-rumped Sandpiper
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
Red Phalarope
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Dovekie
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Tennessee Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Bay-breasted Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Worm-eating Warbler
KENTUCKY WARBLER
Mourning Warbler
Hooded Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Grasshopper Sparrow
DICKCISSEL


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, May 27th, at 7:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS in Orange County; Block Canyon fishing trip results; BLACK-NECKED STILTS, WHITE IBIS, RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, DICKCISSEL and CLAY-COLORED SPARROW; PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, KENTUCKY WARBLER; and SUMMER TANAGER.

Just to our north in Orange County, five BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS were discovered on Monday and were still present through Thursday at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, specifically the section accessed from Oil City Road southwest of Pine Island. From Monday the ducks have spent most of this time in impoundments and wet fields west of the gravel road that goes north from Oil City Road across from the viewing platform parking lot. Thursday however early in the morning they went to the impoundment on the east side of the gravel road, where they remained virtually totally hidden until flying out around 6pm, only to disappear again in fields west of the gravel road. We as yet have no information from today.

A private fishing trip from Shinnecock going as far out as Block Canyon last Saturday recorded an interesting variety of seabirds, including 5 NORTHERN FULMAR, 1 MANX SHEARWATER, 21 SOOTY SHEARWATERS and 2 GREAT SHEARWATERS, 1 LEACH'S STORM-PETREL, 385 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, 33 RED PHALAROPES, 2 ARCTIC TERNS, 2 DOVEKIES, and 18 ATLANTIC PUFFINS.

The adult WHITE IBIS was still present today at Great Kills Park on Staten Island, where it is seen from the main roadway, Buffalo Street, in the West Pond area along the south side of the road up to the ranger station. Park in the lot past the ranger station and walk back along the roadway to look for the ibis, and patience can be required.

Two BLACK-NECKED STILTS were seen Wednesday by kayakers in Sebonac Creek across from Tern Island. This area northwest of Southampton is unfortunately mostly private, and the stilts have not been relocated.

As migration winds down, the city parks, weather permitting, have still provided some good finds. In Central Park, SUMMER TANAGER was noted through today, and a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW visited the north end last Saturday. Flycatchers have included OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER Thursday and such empidonax as ACADIAN FLYCATCHER, ALDER FLYCATCHER, and YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH has also been noted, and warblers have included TENNESSEE WARBLER, BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, WORM-EATING WARBLER, and MOURNING WARBLER.

Prospect Park has featured a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER Tuesday and a MOURNING WARBLER today.

Two PROTHONOTARIES were at Willowbrook Park on Staten Island Wednesday.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE visited the West Pond from Friday through Sunday, joined by a COMMON MOORHEN. A SUMMER TANAGER was in the North Garden Sunday, with three WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS also on the West Pond.

A PINE SISKEN was at Broad Channel Tuesday.

At Jones Beach West End, singles of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and ICELAND GULL were in parking field 2 on Sunday, with two ICELAND GULLS there on Monday. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS seen today included one at the Point Lookout Town Beach parking lot, and four at Nickerson Beach. Nickerson also had an ICELAND GULL today.

A fallout at Jones Beach West End on Tuesday produced a decent number of birds, more unusual warblers featuring TENNESSEE WARBLER, BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, and HOODED WARBLER.

An UPLAND SANDPIPER was around field 2 at Robert Moses State Park Thursday.

Sea watches at Robert Moses field 2 produced three SOOTY SHEARWATERS Sunday morning, and a SOOTY plus two BLACK TERNS on Monday. Farther east, a LEAST BITTERN was seen along Dune Road, west of Shinnecock Inlet Saturday, and at Cupsogue County Park some ROSEATE TERNS and BLACK TERNS have been present lately, and a decent number of shorebirds there included 121 RED KNOT and two WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS today.

An ACADIAN FLYCATCHER plus YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO were found at the Route 51 fields in Eastport on Monday, while adjacent Hunter's Garden produced a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER in the back section on Wednesday.

COMMON NIGHTHAWK and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW were in the walking dunes at Napeague last weekend.

A DICKCISSEL in Calverton last Friday was followed by another in northern Westchester Sunday, and also in Westchester an ACADIAN FLYCATCHER and KENTUCKY WARBLER were present at the Rye Nature Center on Wednesday.

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 ~