New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending March 30, 2012:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* March 30, 2012
* NYNY1203.30

- Birds Mentioned:

Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Piping Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Purple Sandpiper
Iceland Gull
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Hermit Thrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Yellow-breasted Chat
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 (during the day except Sunday)
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, March 30th at 8:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are an influx of early spring migrants.

Ahhh, another short tape as we wait for spring migration to pick up steam. Most winter rarities have departed, and it will be interesting to see if true neotropical migrants start showing up on an earlier than usual schedule.

In Central Park, a good selection of early migrants has been present lately. These have included OSPREY, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, EASTERN PHOEBE, HERMIT THRUSH, WINTER WREN, BROWN CREEPER, some GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and fewer RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, decent numbers of PINE WARBLERS and a few PALM WARBLERS, and RUSTY BLACKBIRD. The ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was reported again at the north end as recently as Wednesday.

Prospect Park produced a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH at the Lullwater Thursday, as well as many of the previously mentioned species.

A BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER was noted at Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn Wednesday, but more surprising was a DICKCISSEL photographed at a private residence in Queens at their feeders last Sunday.

Among the waterfowl besides good numbers of WOOD DUCKS, some BLUE-WINGED TEAL are also showing up, including two at Sunken Meadow State Park on Monday and one in Brooklyn Wednesday.

Joining some GREAT EGRETS and SNOWY EGRETS and BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS was a LITTLE BLUE HERON at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Sunday, while farther east on Long Island, 16 GLOSSY IBIS plus GREATER YELLOWLEGS were at the Wertheim Estate in Shirley today.

At Hempstead Lake State Park, usually a good early migration site, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was still around McDonald Pond today, and good numbers of PINE WARBLERS were also noted.

PIPING PLOVERS can be found now along the ocean beaches, including at Jones Beach West End, where a flock of PURPLE SANDPIPERS continues around the Jones Inlet jetties.

An ICELAND GULL was still at Iron Pier Beach at the end of Pier Avenue in Northville on Tuesday.

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or during the day except Sunday 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 ~