New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 7, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct 7, 2011
* NYNY1110.07

- Birds Mentioned:

AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN+
YELLOW RAIL+
SAY'S PHOEBE+
NORTHERN WHEATEAR+ (Orange County)
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

American Golden-Plover
Solitary Sandpiper
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Pectoral Sandpiper
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
Cliff Swallow
Winter Wren
Gray-cheeked Thrush
American Pipit
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
Clay-colored Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Blue Grosbeak
Dickcissel
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Pine Siskin


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, 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

~ Transcript ~

Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Weekly Recording: (212) 979-3070

To report sightings call:
Tom Burke (212) 372-1483
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, October 7th, at 9:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are SAY'S PHOEBES, YELLOW RAIL, AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, WESTERN KINGBIRD, SUMMER TANAGER, LARK SPARROWS, CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, BLUE GROSBEAKS, DICKCISSELS, and much more.

A nice find was a SAY'S PHOEBE found Tuesday at Caumsett State Park on Lloyd's Neck, on the north shore of Long Island, where it cooperatively remained through Wednesday along fields west of the entrance, but has not been seen since. However, this morning another of the same SAY'S PHOEBE was found at Robert Moses State Park field 2, where it was moving along the path, from the parking lot west to the golf course clubhouse, either along the dune line on the beach edge, or around the picnic area on the west side of parking field 2.

Back at Caumsett State Park, where other notable birds have been seen this week, perhaps the most interesting report was of a YELLOW RAIL flushed twice by a birder in one of the fields there on Wednesday morning. Other species at Caumsett have featured some AMERICAN PIPITS and EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER Thursday and Friday, and VESPER SPARROW and RUSTY BLACKBIRD on Friday.

Another rare flycatcher was a WESTERN KINGBIRD seen briefly at Gilgo on Monday before it flew off.

Two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were spotted at a distance from the hawkwatch at the east end of Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island last Saturday. The birds drifted east, but later came back and provided better views before moving off into Great South Bay. Robert Moses State Park was also a good place to witness the heavy flight into our area on Wednesday. Highlights there included an immature male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD along the road median, an immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, BLUE GROSBEAK, and DICKCISSEL, as well as arriving PINE SISKIN, more of which were noted on Thursday. RED-HEADED WOODPECKER and BLUE GROSBEAK had also occurred at Moses last Saturday, with CLAY-COLORED SPARROW also there Thursday and today, along with a CLIFF SWALLOW today.

The city parks also enjoyed a good week, especially after Wednesday's flight. Central Park last Saturday provided PHILADELPHIA VIREO, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, and a good selection of warblers, including CAPE MAY WARBLER, BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, HOODED WARBLER, and two YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS, the latter which seemed to be lingering there. Sunday found an immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER at the north end, with a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER reported Monday and a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW at the north end Thursday. Much smaller Bryant Park in Manhattan got in on the Wednesday flight with such highlights as YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, WINTER WREN, TENNESSEE WARBLER, and LINCOLN'S SPARROW. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER visited Riverside Park last Saturday.

Productive habitat at Kissena Corridor Park on the south side of Colden Street in Queens featured two CONNECTICUT WARBLERS last Saturday, one an adult male. In addition, there were at least four BLUE GROSBEAKS, as well as YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, PHILADELPHIA VIREO Saturday, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LARK SPARROW, LINCOLN SPARROW and DICKCISSEL.

Other CONNECTICUT WARBLERS have included one at Crocheron Park in Queens on Wednesday and another plus a BLUE GROSBEAK at the south garden at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Sunday.

Out at Jones Beach State Park last Sunday, shorebirds gathered at high tide on the bar off the Coast Guard Station featured three HUDSONIAN GODWITS and two MARBLED GODWITS, while two AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were in the swale in front of the West End 2 concession building. Also noted were an immature LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and CASPIAN TERN.

VESPER SPARROW was at Cedar Beach Thursday.

An interesting report mentioned a female SUMMER TANAGER at Blydenburgh County Park in Hauppauge on Wednesday.

Out at Roosevelt County Park in Montauk last Sunday, an adult LARK SPARROW was present, along with PECTORAL SANDPIPER and two SOLITARY SANDPIPERS.

A CONNECTICUT WARBLER was at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye Thursday, and the region's third NORTHERN WHEATEAR of the season was found today, just north of Oil City Road, in the Orange County Black Dirt Region west of Pine Island.

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 ~