New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, February 10, 2012:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Feb. 10, 2012
* NYNY1202.10

- Birds mentioned

COMMON MURRE+
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

EURASIAN WIGEON
GREEN-WINGED TEAL (Eurasian form)
KING EIDER
Harlequin Duck
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
Virginia Rail
Black-headed Gull (not seen)
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
Razorbill
SNOWY OWL
Red-headed Woodpecker
Common Raven
Orange-crowned Warbler
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (Audubon's form)
Yellow-breasted Chat
Lark Sparrow

SULLIVAN COUNTY:
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll
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, February 10th 2012 at 7pm. The highlights of today's tape are RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, SNOWY OWL, COMMON MURRE, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, KING EIDER, EURASIAN WIGEON, EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL, "AUDUBON'S" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER plus some winter finches to our north.

At the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was present there today look for it around the plantings or feeders on either side of the entrance to the planetarium on the south side of 81st Street. The immature RED-HEADED WOODPECKER remains around the northwestern portion of the Hallett Sanctuary in the southeastern corner of Central Park and the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT continues in Union Square Park off East 14th Street.

The drake BARROW'S GOLDENEYE at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge seems to now have a fairly consistent routine roosting overnight with Common Goldeneye and other waterfowl on the West Pond usually at the north end, the duck arriving on the pond sometime shortly after 5pm and then departing for the bay between 7 and 8am. If not on the pond look for the Barrow's in the bay west of the West Pond. The EURASIAN WIGEON that's been floating around Jamaica Bay was seen off Floyd Bennett Field south of the boat launch ramp last weekend along with a RED-NECKED GREBE. Other birds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Monday featured an immature ICELAND GULL at the East Pond and a VIRGINIA RAIL along the north edge of the West Pond.

Two SNOWY OWLS at Breezy Point last weekend set off a needlessly long Internet dialog. Snowy Owls show up here only when they have already encountered survival stress up north. Let's not make it any more difficult for them. One of these owls on Sunday was spotted from a boat returning from a short sea venture that did produce COMMON MURRE and some RAZORBILLS.

An immature GLAUCOUS GULL was spotted Saturday at the Owl's Head waste water treatment plant in Brooklyn but the BLACK-HEADED GULL was not seen.

Watch for the HARLEQUIN DUCKS around the Point Lookout jetties.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was still in Kissena Park in Queens today north of the community gardens. A female KING EIDER was spotted again in Long Island Sound off the point at East Island in Glen Cove last Sunday and a Eurasian form of GREEN-WINGED TEAL visited Smith Pond in Rockville Center last Saturday.

The "AUDUBON'S" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER was still present today at Sunken Meadow State Park this time near the culverts southeast of the easternmost parking lot.

Out east on Long Island the immature GLAUCOUS GULL was sitting on the docks of the Bellport Bay Yacht Club at the end of Bellport Lane in Bellport last Saturday afternoon. In the Montauk area a LARK SPARROW was spotted at feeders along Ditch Plains Road in Ditch Plains last Sunday and it was still present there Tuesday morning but missed subsequently.

RAZORBILLS still in western Long Island Sound included one off Pelham Bay Park on Tuesday.

Two COMMON RAVENS are currently appearing around the water tower in Hampton Bays where they've bred last year and a pair in New Rochelle in Westchester County seems to be planning a similar activity with one seen carrying a large stick over the throughway at North Street yesterday.

An influx of many PINE SISKINS, some WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS and a few COMMON REDPOLLS as seen last Sunday in Sullivan County have been around a bog on the Cooley Parksville Road about one half mile south of Woodard Road in the Liberty area.

For the next two weeks the tape will be handled by Tony Lauro so please call Tony with your reports at (631) 734-4126.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript