New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below if the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, September 23, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Sep. 23, 2011
* NYNY1109.23

- Birds mentioned

NORTHERN WHEATEAR+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cory's Shearwater
BROWN PELICAN
Broad-winged Hawk
Virginia Rail
Sora
American Golden-Plover
American Oystercatcher
Willet (subspecies "Western Willet")
MARBLED GODWIT
Red Knot
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
PARASITIC JAEGER
Philadelphia Vireo
Gray-cheeked Thrush
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
Yellow-breasted Chat
LARK SPARROW

- 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@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, September 23rd 2011 at 7pm. The highlights of today's tape are NORTHERN WHEATEAR, BROWN PELICAN, LARK SPARROW, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, PARASITIC JAEGER and MARBLED GODWIT.

Our 2nd local NORTHERN WHEATEAR of the season was found last Saturday in Montauk where it stayed through Tuesday along the pastures between the Roosevelt Third House County Park and the Deep Hollow Ranch on the north side of Route 27. We unfortunately have no reports from Wednesday on of the wheatear.

A couple of BROWN PELICANS were also seen during the past week on eastern Long Island. One was last Saturday near Long Beach Bar off Orient on the North Fork and the other appeared Wednesday on Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton. Keep watching the inlets and bays for this species as it can also appear as a flyby along the coast.

Further west on Long Island the LARK SPARROW was present around the fence at the Jones Beach West End Coast Guard Station Saturday and Sunday. Among the few other landbirds there was an early ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER Saturday. While shorebirds gathering on the Coast Guard Bar there included an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER Saturday and Sunday and hundreds of RED KNOTS and AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS and several "Western" WILLETS.

At Robert Moses State Park a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was present through Sunday at the western end of parking field 2 with a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH also there Saturday and a PHILADELPHIA VIREO was among 4 species of vireos banded at Tobay on Saturday.

In Central Park highlights from last Saturday featured a CONNECTICUT WARBLER at the north end and a SORA at Turtle Pond that stayed at least to Monday. A VIRGINIA RAIL was a highlight in Prospect Park in Brooklyn last Saturday.

The BROAD-WINGED HAWKS made their main push through our area last Friday and Saturday. On Friday, with northwest winds, over 6,100 moved past the Quaker Ridge Hawkwatch at the Greenwich Audubon Center in northwestern Greenwich but with a more easterly component to the winds on Saturday the flight moved inland. The Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch at the Butler Sanctuary in Bedford recorded over 9,600 while Hook Mountain in Rockland County counted 14,670 broad-wingeds. Some more should come but of course the variety of hawks species will rise as the season progresses.

Moving back to eastern Long Island birds off Montauk Point last Sunday included a CORY'S SHEARWATER and 3 PARASITIC JAEGERS with 2 parasitics still there Wednesday. Also on Wednesday 95 BLACK TERNS were counted in Napeague Harbor. Birds appearing on the flats at Mecox Inlet recently have featured 2 MARBLED GODWITS on Wednesday and a couple of AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS on Sunday and Thursday plus an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL recently and 2 CASPIAN TERNS on Thursday. A PHILADELPHIA VIREO was spotted at Orient Point on Saturday.

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