New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, July 4, 2014:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
*July 11, 2014
* NYNY1407.11

- Birds Mentioned

SANDWICH TERN+
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

LEAST BITTERN
Black Vulture
Virginia Rail
Solitary Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Gull-billed Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern

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 nysarc44nybirdsorg

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)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Number: (212) 979-3070

Compiler: Tom Burke, Tony Lauro
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Gail Benson

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]
Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, July 11 at 5:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are SANDWICH TERN, LEAST BITTERN, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, arriving shorebirds, a Jamaica Bay appeal, and a pelagic trip reminder.

Two more brief SANDWICH TERN sightings occurred this week—the first was last Sunday with an adult spotted sitting on the flats at Mecox, this tern flying out to sea shortly thereafter, and it was pretty much the same scenario with another adult found at Nickerson Beach off Lido Boulevard west of Point Lookout on Tuesday. Other interesting Terns at each location featured an adult BLACK TERN also at Mecox on Sunday and two GULL-BILLED TERNS continuing around the Tern colony at Nickerson Beach.

On Wednesday at Cupsogue County Park in Westhampton Dunes a fly-by ROYAL was the only Tern highlight there, but a notable increase in southbound shorebirds included a STILT SANDPIPER and an adult WESTERN SANDPIPER among 15 species of shorebirds there.

The family of LEAST BITTERNS continues to be seen at Arshamomaque Preserve, west of Greenport on the north fork. The birds can be viewed from the observation tower overlooking the pond, but a telescope and sometimes some patience are recommended. The Preserve entrance is off Chapel Lane, north of Route 25, south of North Road. VIRGINIA RAILS are among the other birds present there, and a migrant SOLITARY SANDPIPER appeared there Wednesday.

The EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE was still present today in Lower Manhattan—it was seen yesterday near the West Side Highway across from the end of West 23 rd Street and today was back in Chelsea Waterside Park, where previous sightings had also occurred, so the Dove seems to be faithful to that area.

A BLACK VULTURE over Uniondale on Thursday was quite unusual there.

The East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is rounding into good shape for the upcoming shorebird season, but the West Pond remains a disaster thanks to a total lack of repair by the Park Service.

For Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge now is a very important time regarding the future of the West Pond. Proceedings this month will be instrumental in determining whether the breach in the West Pond will be repaired and thus whether the pond and surrounding area will be restored to pre-Sandy productivity. If you haven’t already, please sign the restoration petition, found on the internet at http://tinyurl.com/west-pond-petition Also please refer to Seth Ausubel’s post of Monday June 30 at aba.org under Birding News for New York for information on key meetings and follow-up regarding the refuge. Your involvement is quite important!

For information on and reservations for the See Life Paulagics trip leaving Freeport, Long Island, at 8 PM on Monday, August 11th aboard the Captain Lou Fleet’s Star Stream VIII, please call 215-234-6805 or visit their website at www.paulagics.com

For the next two weeks Tony Lauro will handle the Rare Bird Alert duties, please call Tony to give reports at (631) 734-4126.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript