New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 28, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct 28, 2011
* NYNY1110.28

- Birds Mentioned:

SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER+
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
BROWN PELICAN
American Golden-Plover
HUDSONIAN GODWIT
Marbled Godwit
Royal Tern
Red-headed Woodpecker
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Yellow-breasted Chat
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Vesper Sparrow
LARK SPARROW
Nelson's Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Snow Bunting
Dickcissel
Rusty Blackbird


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 28th, at 7:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER, BROWN PELICANS, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, HUDSONIAN GODWIT, and LARK and CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS.

Another good October flycatcher, this time an immature SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER, appeared at Captree State Park. Seen but not publicized last Friday, the flycatcher was enjoyed by many on Saturday once word got out. The bird frequented the swale, just north of the upper parking lot on the south side of Captree. Like most local scissor-tails, though, the bird's stay was brief, and it was not seen on Sunday.

Also at Captree, the immature YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, traveling mostly in a Brown-headed Cowbird flock, was located Saturday along the Robert Moses Causeway cloverleafs around Ocean Parkway and just north of there, but it too could not be relocated on Sunday. An immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was spotted in Robert Moses State Park on Sunday.

At Jones Beach West End, shorebirds gathered at the Coast Guard bar on Saturday included an immature HUDSONIAN GODWIT and AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, with two MARBLED GODWITS reported there Sunday along with a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW.

A good collection of birds at Fort Tilden last Saturday included LARK SPARROW, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, VESPER SPARROW, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and a DICKCISSEL, and about 45 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS were among the early morning migrants moving westward.

Floyd Bennett Field on Saturday also produced a CLAY-COLORED and two VESPER SPARROWS, one of the Vespers lingering to Monday.

Among the more common migrants moving recently along the coast have been good numbers of AMERICAN PIPITS, and as the season turns over, a few SNOW BUNTINGS are arriving.

Plumb Beach in Brooklyn produced a decent number of NELSON'S SPARROWS and another CLAY-COLORED on Sunday. Nelson's have been outnumbering Saltmarsh Sparrows in many coastal marshes recently. This is typically the time when Nelson's moves through, mostly the coastal subvirgatus race, while many of the Saltmarsh have already headed south. Both though, as well as the two other races of Nelson's, could be present, so decent views are needed to determine which you are looking at.

We also hope observers are looking closely at their Clay-colored Sparrows to rule out some very similar-looking immature Chipping Sparrows. Pay close attention to the loral area: an unmarked buffy in Clay-colored and with a dark loral line in Chipping.

Another nice surprise was a male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, seen for a short time Saturday in a dump at Sunken Meadow State Park.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was reported from Prospect Park in Brooklyn Sunday.

Out east, an immature BROWN PELICAN, still hanging around the Montauk Harbor Inlet, was on the west jetty last Sunday, and east of the east jetty on the beach on Tuesday.

Another BROWN PELICAN was spotted Saturday on the ocean moving east past Mecox.

Eight ROYAL TERNS were at Mecox Sunday as they continue along the coast.

The GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still present Tuesday with Canadas on the Deep Hollow Ranch pastures on the south side of Route 27, east of the town of Montauk.

A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was noted at Montauk Point on Tuesday.

**Late additions from the Transcriber**:

**A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT has been present in Bryant Park, midtown Manhattan, since Wednesday.

**An immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER continues in Central Park, north of the Hallet Sanctuary.

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 ~