New York City Rare Bird Alert

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

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* April 20, 2012
* NYNY1204.20

- Birds Mentioned:
SWALLOW-TAILED KITE+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Red-necked Grebe
American Bittern
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Broad-winged Hawk
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Willet
Upland Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Great Horned Owl
Whip-poor-will
Chimney Swift
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
House Wren
Wood Thrush
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
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 (weekdays)
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, April 20th at 7:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are SWALLOW-TAILED KITE, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, and other spring migrants.

As spring migration progresses, seemingly more accelerated than normal, two negative aspects are shaping up to impact birding during the peak period: the early leafing out of trees, and the lack of water. The latter may be alleviated somewhat this weekend with heavy rain forecast, but for now the waterhole at Forest Park, for instance, is completely dry.

Certainly the week's most interesting report involved a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE spotted from Lookout Hill in Prospect Park on Thursday, this following one that had moved north over Sandy Hook on Tuesday.

Also interesting has been a larger than normal influx of YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS. Over last weekend on Saturday, at least four were reported. Three in Manhattan involved one in Central Park's Ramble also noted Sunday, one in Riverside Park on Saturday only, and one Saturday in Inwood Hill Park, while Prospect Park in Brooklyn added another Saturday on Lookout Hill. On Monday another YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was found in Alley Pond Park in Queens, the season's second there, and this was followed by a YELLOW-THROATED next to the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End in Nassau County on Wednesday, this same day finding a HOODED WARBLER in the West End median.

A few more reports than normal of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER have also occurred lately, with two in the north end of Central Park and two in Prospect Park Thursday. Two HOODED WARBLERS were in Central Park today, and WORM-EATING WARBLER has been seen in both Central and Prospect Parks.

Otherwise there has been a relatively widespread influx of expected earlier migrants throughout much of the region. Warblers noted recently have included NASHVILLE WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, PRAIRIE WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, OVENBIRD, and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT; these in addition to the already present PINE WARBLER, PALM WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER and LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH. Some WHITE-EYED VIREOS and WARBLING VIREOS have joined the widespread BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, while arriving sparrows include some CHIPPING SPARROWS, SAVANNAH SPARROWS, and SWAMP SPARROWS. A WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW was singing at Riverside Park last Sunday. EASTERN KINGBIRD and WOOD THRUSH have also been reported. HOUSE WRENS have become quickly common, and a few RUSTY BLACKBIRDS continue in the area.

Among the non-passerines, one of the more unusual was a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER spotted at Robert Moses State Park last Sunday, near field
2.

The breeding plumaged RED-NECKED GREBE was still on the lake by the golf course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx Monday, and an EASTERN MEADOWLARK was unusual there last Saturday.

Unexpected in Central Park were an AMERICAN BITTERN in the North Woods on Tuesday and a GREAT HORNED OWL in the Ramble on Thursday.

Arriving shorebirds have featured SOLITARY SANDPIPER and SPOTTED SANDPIPER and a WILSON'S SNIPE in Central Park, one or two scattered UPLAND SANDPIPERS, and some WILLETS along the coast, where a small number of GREEN HERONS have also been noted.

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO was first spotted in Central Park last Monday, and a few CHIMNEY SWIFTS are beginning to drift through. Various herons, including TRICOLORED HERON, LITTLE BLUE HERON, and YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON are at appropriate coastal sites. Some BROAD-WINGED HAWKS have been passing through inland, and a few WHIP-POOR-WILLS are already on territory to our north.

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 ~