New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 5, 2013:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Apr. 5, 2013
* NYNY1304.05

- Birds mentioned

VARIED THRUSH+
PAINTED BUNTING+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

ROSS'S GOOSE
BRANT (subspecies "Black Brant")
Blue-winged Teal
TUFTED DUCK
Red-necked Grebe
BROWN PELICAN
American Bittern
Tricolored Heron
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
Rough-legged Hawk
Lesser Yellowlegs
American Woodcock
Iceland Gull
Short-eared Owl
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Pine Warbler
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH
LAPLAND LONGSPUR
Rusty Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll

- 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:

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

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

[Editor's note: The TUFTED DUCK mentioned being reported at Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx should have been recorded as RING-NECKED DUCK. The text below has been changed. The RBA tape will reflect the bird as RING-NECKED DUCK when the tape is rerecorded on Sunday morning.]

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, April 5th 2013 at 9pm. The highlights of today's tape are ROSS'S GOOSE, "Black" BRANT, TUFTED DUCK, BROWN PELICAN, VARIED THRUSH, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, PAINTED BUNTING and LAPLAND LONGSPUR.

A ROSS'S GOOSE was discovered today at the Edgemere Urban Renewal Park in Rockaway Queens. A Black BRANT was seen Monday through Wednesday at Timberpoint Golf Course at Great River Suffolk County perhaps the same bird seen at nearby Heckscher State Park on Sunday. The previously reported TUFTED DUCK at Heckscher Museum Park in Huntington was still there through Wednesday and the Van Cortlandt Park RING-NECKED DUCK was seen last Saturday.

Two BROWN PELICANS were seen in flight last Saturday at Nickerson County Beach Park, Lido Beach, Nassau County.

The VARIED THRUSH at Prospect Park reappeared Sunday in a group of American Robins at the ballfields on Center Drive. Two LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH were found this week, the first on Wednesday at Prospect Park and the other today at Oakland Lake Park in Bayside Queens.

An adult male PAINTED BUNTING appeared apparently a week ago at a feeder at a private residence in Ridge, Suffolk County and was there on Wednesday. Access to the site is unavailable to birders.

A LAPLAND LONGSPUR was seen from Sunday to Wednesday at the gazebo area near the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End. A BLUE-WINGED TEAL was noted Saturday along Narrow River Road in Orient and another BLUE-WINGED TEAL was found at the Blydenburgh Park in Hauppaughe, Suffolk County where a subadult BALD EAGLE also appeared.

A RED-NECKED GREBE was seen Monday through Wednesday at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. An AMERICAN BITTERN was found last Saturday at Shu Swamp Nature Preserve at Mill Neck, Nassau County where a good number of RUSTY BLACKBIRDS were also noted. Three other correspondents reported good numbers of RUSTY BLACKBIRDS last week in appropriate wet habitat.

A TRICOLORED HERON was reported last Saturday from Great Kills Park, Staten Island.

A remarkable number of BLACK VULTURES were reported last week as follows: 6 last Saturday over Brooklyn, a maximum of 8 to a minimum of 3 from Sunday through Wednesday at the Cemetery of the Resurrection in Staten Island and another bird yesterday at Heckscher Museum Park in Huntington.

A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK appeared Wednesday at Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island. Two LESSER YELLOWLEGS were seen at Goethal's Bridge Pond in Staten Island on Wednesday and we have 3 reports of calling AMERICAN WOODCOCKS at favored breeding sites.

Two ICELAND GULLS were seen last Sunday. One at the west jetty at Coney Island and the other at Connetquot River State Park, Suffolk County.

A SHORT-EARED OWL was reported yesterday from Kennedy Airport.

Spring migration was quiet last week with the most common migrant being GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET with a few RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS with small numbers of EASTERN PHOEBES, 3 species of swallows (BARN SWALLOW, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, TREE SWALLOW), a PURPLE MARTIN at [Morrow Lake] in Suffolk County on Tuesday, a RED-EYED VIREO at Clove Lakes Park, Staten Island on Tuesday, a few PINE WARBLERS at Hempstead Lake State Park and Alley Pond Park in Queens and a BALTIMORE ORIOLE at Central Park last Sunday.

A few COMMON REDPOLLS with fair numbers of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS lingered through the week from Rye, Larchmont, the Bronx Zoo, Prospect Park and Green-wood Cemetery.

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