New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, May, 17, 2013:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* May 17, 2013
* NYNY1305.17

- Birds Mentioned:

EURASIAN WIGEON
American Bittern
Bald Eagle
Red Knot
Semipalmated Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Marsh Wren
Cape May Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Bay-breasted Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Worm-eating Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
Grasshopper Sparrow
BLUE GROSBEAK
White-winged Crossbill (not reported this week)
Pine Siskin

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@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 (Long Island)

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, May 17th, at 6:00pm. The highlights of today's tape are CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW, PROTHONOTARY WARBLER, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, EURASIAN WIGEON, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, and Spring Migrants.

This past week was not really up to mid-May expectations, with perhaps an average species diversity overall, but certainly not the hoped-for volume of birds we've enjoyed, even in recent years. It did, nonetheless, have some high points.

In Central Park, a nice find on Thursday was a CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW that perched at Tupelo Field for the day. Other highlights in Central featured a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER through Wednesday, an AMERICAN BITTERN at the north end last Friday, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW on Monday, and the first MOURNING WARBLER on Wednesday. Friday's reports included another MOURNING WARBLER, SUMMER TANAGER, and OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, though there was a decrease in numbers from the day before. Among the roughly 28 species of warblers in Central have been several CAPE MAY WARBLERS and BAY-BREASTED WARBLERS, both species also noted in fairly decent numbers in other local parks, along with less common species such as TENNESEE WARBLER, WORM-EATING WARBLER, HOODED WARBLER, and WILSON'S WARBLER.

[Transcriber's Note: Additional sightings in Central this week include both YELLOW-BILLED and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS, the latter most recently seen today; MARSH WREN on Monday and Tuesday, and a COMMON NIGHTHAWK that perched in the Ramble on Thursday morning.]

Prospect Park also a had a good day Thursday, with an immature BALD EAGLE and a COMMON NIGHTHAWK both perched, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, and a nice assortment of warblers, including a female CERULEAN WARBLER, with a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO and an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER there the day before.

With the recent rains providing some water for the waterhole in Forest Park, Queens, that area has picked up in activity, though seemingly not to the consistency or extent of prior years. A SUMMER TANAGER in Forest Park last Sunday visited the waterhole Thursday, as did such warblers as MOURNING WARBLER and BAY-BREASTED WARBLER. Several CAPE MAY WARBLERS have also been in Forest, and two or three GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSHES there last weekend seemed early. An EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE had also arrived Sunday.

On Wednesday a SUMMER TANAGER visited Hempstead Lake State Park, with an adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER near the entrance booth to parking lot #3 on Thursday. Another RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was seen again out at Jones Beach State Park on Tuesday.

A YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was a surprising find at Floyd Bennett Field last Saturday, and a CERULEAN WARBLER was spotted at Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island Thursday.

A female BLUE GROSBEAK visited Marshlands Conservancy in Rye, Westchester County, today.

A BLACK TERN was reported Saturday from Big Egg Marsh, south of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where a good number of RED KNOT have also been present recently.

A drake EURASIAN WIGEON, continuing on the pond north of Clark Avenue at Massapequa Preserve, is staying much later than expected, perhaps raising issues as to its provenance.

Although there have been no reports of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS since very early May, a few PINE SISKINS and some PURPLE FINCHES have been among the recent city park visitors, with siskins lingering in both Central and Prospect Parks.

Among recent arrivals have been COMMON MOORHEN, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER at Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area Saturday, ROSEATE TERNS on eastern Long Island, and WILLOW FLYCATCHER back at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Sunday. The remaining Empidonax flycatchers should show up shortly.

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 ~