New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, November 19, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Nov. 18, 2011
* NYNY1111.18

- Birds mentioned

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Snow Goose
EURASIAN WIGEON
Common Eider
Red-necked Grebe
EARED GREBE
BROWN PELICAN
Cattle Egret
Bald Eagle
Virginia Rail
SANDHILL CRANE
MARBLED GODWIT
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Razorbill
NORTHERN SHRIKE
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lapland Longspur
DICKCISSEL
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin

- 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 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

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, November 18th 2011 at 10pm. The highlights of today's tape are RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, BROWN PELICAN, SANDHILL CRANE, EARED GREBE, BLACK-HEADED GULL, NORTHERN SHRIKE, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, EURASIAN WIGEON, MARBLED GODWIT and DICKCISSEL.

It was a good week again and we should now be on the lookout for the PINK-FOOTED GOOSE found Tuesday in Montgomery, Orange County, but not seen lately and for SNOWY OWLS already appearing in Connecticut and New Jersey.

The immature female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was still visiting the feeders at Lenoir Preserve recently. To reach this site in Yonkers, Westchester County, from the Sawmill River Parkway take Exit 9, Executive Boulevard, to its end at North Broadway and go right on North Broadway a short distance to Dudley Street on the left. The Lenoir parking lot is on the left off Dudley Street. The hummingbird has been in the butterfly garden and please make sure that the gate to the garden remains securely closed.

BROWN PELICANS also continue in the region. A surprise 2 hour visit was made by one at the Reade Sanctuary / Playland Park in Rye, Westchester County, last Sunday morning and 2 were seen together around Montauk Harbor Inlet and a little farther west at Fort Pond Bay last weekend. Another Westchester rarity involved 4 SANDHILL CRANES moving north over the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch at the Butler Sanctuary in Bedford Thursday afternoon.

The EARED GREBE at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge was in Jamaica Bay south of the West Pond trail at least through Tuesday where it has been staying with a dozen or so Horned Grebes.

An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL visited the Mill Pond in Setauket from Saturday through Monday and one presumably continues in the vicinity of the Owl's Head waste water treatment plant in Brooklyn though it has also been missed there.

An immature NORTHERN SHRIKE found Saturday at Smith Point County Park in Shirley was present around the picnic area west of the entrance road up through Monday but has not been reported since.

Two drake EURASIAN WIGEON were uncovered last weekend. One was present Saturday and Sunday on Cooper's Neck Pond in Southampton and the other spotted Sunday on Patchogue Lake in Patchogue was still there Wednesday and both likely continue.

A few GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE remain regionally. One at Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx present last weekend should be looked for on the Parade Grounds or on the lake. Two White-fronteds have been feeding on the Further Lane field in East Hampton, another continues on the south pasture at the Deep Hollow Ranch east of Montauk and one was seen again on Marratooka Lake off New Suffolk Avenue in Mattituck last Saturday morning.

At Jones Beach West End the shorebirds that gather at high tide on the bar off the Coast Guard Station still featured 2 MARBLED GODWITS at least to Tuesday and the DICKCISSEL found Sunday with House Sparrows around the Coast Guard Station hedgerow was still present today. Twenty-five or so COMMON EIDER have been around Jones Inlet recently.

Birds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge besides the Eared Grebe include a RED-NECKED GREBE in the bay last Saturday, 240 SNOW GEESE with a Blue Goose at the East Pond last Sunday evening and a growing number of other waterfowl. Also of note at the Hess Station on Cross Bay Boulevard north of the Belt Parkway a VIRGINIA RAIL was running around the gas pumps last Sunday evening probably having spent the day there.

The seasons first RAZORBILL was spotted off Montauk Point Saturday and a RED-NECKED GREBE was on Fort Pond today. A CATTLE EGRET was using the back fields at the Stillwell Woods Preserve east of Syosset for a few days up to Tuesday.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was at Prospect Park Thursday and a WOOD THRUSH appeared at a small mid-Manhattan park between 45th and 46th Street on Tuesday.

A decent flight today along the outer beach at Robert Moses State Park featured numbers of AMERICAN ROBINS and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, 21 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, 46 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, 10 PURPLE FINCH and singles of PINE SISKIN, LAPLAND LONGSPUR and BALD EAGLE.

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