New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 9, 2011:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec 9, 2011
* NYNY1112.09

- Birds Mentioned:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Ross's Goose
Cackling Goose
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
American Bittern
Great Egret
Bald Eagle
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
American Avocet
Red Knot
Western Sandpiper
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
Razorbill
Snowy Owl
Northern Shrike
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Seaside Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole

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, December 9th, at 6:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are SNOWY OWLS, AMERICAN AVOCET, EARED GREBE, NORTHERN SHRIKE, ROSS'S GOOSE, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, HARLEQUIN DUCK, GLAUCOUS GULL, ICELAND GULL, and more.

A SNOWY OWL put in an appearance at Jones Beach West End last Sunday, sitting in the dunes between the swale (off the West End 2 pavilion) and the West End jetty, closer to the swale. The owl was pushed about during the day, flying frequently, and was not seen after Sunday. If you'd like such an owl to stay longer for others to enjoy and feel unthreatened in the process, please keep a respectful distance away.

An AMERICAN AVOCET was found in Brooklyn last Saturday and was still around Coney Island Creek this afternoon. The bird is generally seen in the vicinity of Calvert Vaux Park or Leon Kaiser Park on the south side of the creek. A viewing vantage point has been from the shore beyond the ball fields next to the Home Depot. A ROSS'S GOOSE was reported in the same area Saturday, but a lone Snow Goose was apparently also in that area Sunday.

There is some question as to whether two AVOCETS were present last Saturday, as one at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge was seen flying into the East Pond, as well as at the West Pond in the early afternoon, and was again at the West Pond late in the day.

Also at Jamaica Bay, the EARED GREBE was spotted again in the bay, south of the West Pond on Sunday. And last Saturday afternoon, a drake BARROW'S GOLDENEYE visited the West Pond with a few COMMON GOLDENEYE, joining a large raft of ducks on the pond. Presumably this particular Barrow's has wintered in Jamaica Bay in previous years and will hopefully stick around.

Back on the Jones Beach strip, a NORTHERN SHRIKE was found Tuesday just west of the entrance to Cedar Beach Marina on the north side of Ocean Parkway.

Last Saturday two RAZORBILLS were inside Jones Inlet, with at least one there Sunday. Shorebirds Sunday at West End featured a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, a WESTERN SANDPIPER, and about 40 RED KNOT, while a PIPING PLOVER spotted Sunday on the beach at Point Lookout was probably the same bird present Thursday in the West End 2 swale. A drake HARLEQUIN DUCK was seen around the Point Lookout jetties Sunday and Thursday.

An immature GLAUCOUS GULL was still on the beach just west of the Fort Tilden fishermen's parking area last Sunday.

At Bryant Park, Manhattan, it was believed that two YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were present early in the week, and a LINCOLN'S SPARROW was still hanging on there on Wednesday, while on Thursday an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was seen again at Canarsie Beach Park in Brooklyn.

Out on eastern Long Island, a SNOWY OWL appeared last Saturday in the ocean dunes near the Ponquogue Bridge west of Shinnecock Inlet, and a SNOWY OWL sometimes observable on Hicks Island from the end of Lazy Point Road in Napeague was seen there both last Saturday and Sunday. Also at Shinnecock last Sunday, two RAZORBILLS and a large flock of COMMON EIDER were well inside the inlet, a BALD EAGLE flew in off the ocean, and along Dune Road were GREAT EGRET, AMERICAN BITTERN, and two SEASIDE SPARROWS.

At Hook Pond in East Hampton Sunday were two GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and a CACKLING GOOSE, the White-fronts presumably the birds often feeding along Further Lane.

Land birds in the Mecox-to-Bridgehampton thickets on Sunday included three YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

In the Montauk area, Sunday counts of birds along the north shore from Springs to the Montauk Harbor Inlet included 125 RAZORBILLS, 725 RED-THROATED LOONS, 489 COMMON LOONS, and 5 RED-NECKED GREBES, the grebes being most regular in Fort Pond Bay or off Culloden Point. Also last Sunday an adult ICELAND GULL was around the Montauk Harbor Inlet, and another 60 RAZORBILLS plus a BALTIMORE ORIOLE were at Montauk Point.

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 ~