New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 7, 2012:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec 7, 2012
* NYNY1212.07

- Birds Mentioned:
BARNACLE GOOSE+
PACIFIC LOON+
WHITE-WINGED DOVE+
VIRGINIA'S WARBLER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cackling Goose
Eurasian Wigeon
Red-necked Grebe
BROWN PELICAN
American Bittern
Bald Eagle
Lesser Yellowlegs
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Black-legged Kittiwake
Razorbill
SNOWY OWL
House Wren
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
"Audubon's" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
Vesper Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Red Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll

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:

Gary Chapin - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
486 High Street
Victor, NY 14564

~ 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, December 7th, at 8:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are VIRGINIA'S WARBLER, PACIFIC LOON, WHITE-WINGED DOVE, BROWN PELICAN, SNOWY OWL, BLACK-HEADED GULL, BARNACLE GOOSE, and "Audubon's" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER.

The VIRGINIA'S WARBLER at Alley Pond Park in Queens was last reported Monday near Little Alley Pond. Showing the bird's proclivity to move around, it was found Sunday around the northeast corner of the baseball field, these areas both somewhat removed from the overgrown gully it had been frequenting, and closer to the parking lot off Winchester Boulevard than to the 76th Avenue lot or parking along 73rd Avenue. Any of these will get you to the areas to be checked, if you still wish to look for this bird, hoping it is still there. Today there were about 20 crossbills at Alley, mostly if not all WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS.

The PACIFIC LOON at East Moriches also seems to be hit-or-miss. It has been reported almost daily, but a runt Common Loon, also there, could be a source of confusion if not seen well. The PACIFIC LOON is mostly seen in Hart Cove or Tuthill or West Cove, and viewing vantage points are at the ends of Maple Avenue, or Atlantic Avenue, or Adelaide Avenue, or along Moriches Island Road, among others. A lot of Common and Red-throated Loons are also present.

Some other good birds out east recently have included a WHITE-WINGED DOVE seen briefly on Tuesday near East Lake Drive in Montauk; a BROWN PELICAN that has been present around the entrance to Montauk Harbor, sometimes sitting on the jetties there; an immature BLACK-HEADED GULL, also noted in that Montauk Harbor area Saturday and Tuesday; and a SNOWY OWL that was present Tuesday at Shell Beach on Shelter Island. Also in the Montauk area, single ICELAND GULLS have been noted at the Point and at Lake Montauk. An impressive estimate from last Saturday of 350 RAZORBILLS from Montauk Point to Fort Pond Bay has not been duplicated since, but some do continue in that area, especially around the Point.

Other Montauk sightings have featured RED-NECKED GREBE, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE off the Point, and a CACKLING GOOSE on the south field at Deep Hollow Ranch off Route 27 on Saturday.

An Audubon's form of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER continues at Sunken Meadow State Park, seen often near the footbridge adjacent to the southeast corner of the easternmost parking lot. The bird does move around, and it has been conjectured that this may be the same Audubon's that spent last winter at Sunken Meadow. An AMERICAN BITTERN was also at Sunken Meadow Tuesday.

A BARNACLE GOOSE continues to frequent Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, where it is often with Canadas on the Parade Ground, but Wednesday afternoon it was pretty much by itself on the Lake. A CACKLING GOOSE has also been in the Canada flock.

Continuing the recent influx of EURASIAN WIGEONS, one was on St. John's Pond off Route 25A in Cold Spring Harbor on Monday, with another on Stump Pond at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown on Tuesday.

Both RED CROSSBILLS and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS continue in the area in decent numbers. In the city parks, up to 20 REDS and 55 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS have been reported from Brooklyn's Prospect Park during the week, and a few WHITE-WINGEDS were reported in Central Park earlier this week. WHITE-WINGED seems to be the more prevalent of the two species; for instance the 100 or so at Smith Point County Park in Shirley on Tuesday seemed to be mostly or all WHITE-WINGS, while the flock at Jones Beach West End has contained mostly REDS. Decent numbers along Dune Road, west of Shinnecock Inlet near Tiana Beach last weekend contained both species, and others are scattered along the south shore of Long Island and elsewhere.

Other sightings of note include ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and both crossbills at Meadow Lake in Queens Thursday; ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, INDIGO BUNTING and HOUSE WREN at Kissena Park Corridor in Queens on Monday; BALD EAGLE and LESSER YELLOWLEGS at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Saturday; and VESPER SPARROW, COMMON REDPOLL, and about 50 AMERICAN PIPITS at Caumsett State Park Thursday.

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 ~