New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, January 20, 2012:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Jan. 20, 2012
* NYNY1201.20

- Birds mentioned

BARNACLE GOOSE+
GYRFALCON+
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD+
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Cackling Goose
Eurasian Wigeon
Red-necked Grebe
EARED GREBE
Bald Eagle
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
LITTLE GULL
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Razorbill
SNOWY OWL
Red-headed Woodpecker
Common Raven
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Savannah Sparrow (subspecies "Ipswich Sparrow")
DICKCISSEL

- 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, January 20th 2012 at 8pm. The highlights of today's tape are GYRFALCON, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, LITTLE GULL, BLACK-HEADED GULL, EARED GREBE, SNOWY OWL, BARNACLE GOOSE, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, DICKCISSEL and more.

Firstly, the pelagic trip now scheduled for Saturday, January 28th from Freeport still needs some more participants to sign up to ensure sailing so if interested please call See Life Paulagics at (215) 234-6805 or visit the website at < http://www.paulagics.com >.

Last Saturday afternoon a GYRFALCON was spotted sitting in a tree along the Wantagh Parkway just north of the Zach's Bay amphitheater. The falcon took off flying north along the Wantagh harassed by a Peregrine the GYRFALCON veered to the northwest and disappeared but the bird was looked for but not seen on Sunday and subsequent days but could still be in the area of Great South Bay, definitely worth watching for.

Also in the Jones Beach area the white SNOWY OWL remains in the dunes between the West End jetty and the West End 2 concession building. The immature LITTLE GULL was seen among the Bonaparte's Gulls inside Jones Inlet on Tuesday and a good number of Bonaparte's have been present lately often feeding out in the ocean. A few RAZORBILLS continue around Jones Inlet, a GLAUCOUS GULL was seen again on the bar off the Point Lookout Fireman's Park last Saturday and an ICELAND GULL appeared near the West End Coast Guard Station on Wednesday. Certainly unexpected on the Point Lookout bar last Sunday were singles of SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and PIPING PLOVER. Among the passerines at Jones Beach an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was near the field 10 entrance Sunday and 2 "IPSWICH" SPARROWS were around the West End 2 parking lot.

The RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD is still present, but not all the time, around the entrance to the planetarium off 81st Street at the American Museum of Natural History, watch for it feeding in the plantings on either side of the entrance. The immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER also remains in Central Park around the northwestern area of the fenced in Hallett Sanctuary in the southeastern corner of Central Park. A couple of YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS continue in Manhattan, one in Bryant Park along the front of the public library off 5th Avenue just south of 42nd Street and one in Union Square Park off East 14th Street. The bright DICKCISSEL remains at Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan in the large House Sparrow flock usually around the ballfields at the western end of Dyckman Street and a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE can still be found in Van Cortlandt Park. The adult BLACK-HEADED GULL continues to visit the Owl's Head waste water treatment plant in Brooklyn and may also be seen on the adjacent Veteran's Memorial Pier and 2 BALD EAGLES were spotted over Prospect Park on Wednesday.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge the EARED GREBE continues off the Broad Channel community with the EURASIAN WIGEON still on the mostly frozen East Pond on Tuesday. Another SNOWY OWL was at Atlantic Beach on Monday. The LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL remains by the Silver Gull Club at the western end of Fort Tilden and 2 RED-NECKED GREBES and a GLAUCOUS GULL were off Coney Island on Tuesday.

Single GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE have been noted recently at Gerry Park off Northern Boulevard in Roslyn and last Sunday at the Hauppauge High School off Lincoln Boulevard.

The MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD was still in Calverton last weekend using fencing in fields east of Hulse Landing Road reached by walking east along the power line seen north of Route 25A. Also watch the Route 25A snow fence.

Continuing east the BARNACLE GOOSE was still with Canadas Sunday on the Eastport Pond on the north side of Route 27A (Montauk Highway) on the east side of Eastport and it's also been seen in fields around the intersections of Route 27 and Route 51 a little northwest of the pond.

Last Saturday there were 2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and a CACKLING GOOSE on Short's Pond off Scuttlehole Road north of Watermill, another White-front along Daniel's Lane in Sagaponack and an ICELAND GULL at Hook Pond in East Hampton. Two COMMON RAVENS were at the Hampton Bays water tower Sunday. An ICELAND GULL and a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL continue at Iron Pier Park at the end of Pier Road in Northville and a CACKLING GOOSE was reported from Marratooka Lake in Mattituck Monday.

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