New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, September 26, 2014:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Sep. 26, 2014
* NYNY1409.26

- Birds mentioned

EURASIAN WIGEON
American Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Red-necked Grebe
GREAT BLUE HERON (white morph "Great White Heron")
American Golden-Plover
Whimbrel
MARBLED GODWIT
Western Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER
Long-billed Dowitcher
Caspian Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
WESTERN KINGBIRD
Yellow-throated Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Tennessee Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
Mourning Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
DICKCISSEL
Purple Finch
PINE SISKIN

- 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 nysarc44(at)nybirds{dot}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)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883

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

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, September 26th 2014 at 7pm. The highlights of today's tape are WESTERN KINGBIRD, EURASIAN WIGEON, "GREAT WHITE HERON", BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER, BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, MARBLED GODWIT, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, DICKCISSEL and PINE SISKIN.

A decent week for landbirds, finally, was highlighted by the Fall's first WESTERN KINGBIRD appearing last Saturday at Brooklyn's Calvert Vaux Park also known as Drier-Offerman Park. The bird apparently disappeared during the afternoon and the season's first EURASIAN WIGEON was found Sunday among increasing numbers of arriving waterfowl on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where the West Pond, usually a waterfowl haven, remains a disaster.

But perhaps the weeks most unusual find was a "GREAT WHITE HERON" spotted Saturday along the ocean side edge of Georgica Pond in East Hampton. Currently considered taxonomically a form of GREAT BLUE HERON with only very few New York records for this southern bird. This individual was last seen flying off towards the north end of Georgica Pond and it has not been relocated.

A reasonable variety of shorebirds continues in the region. The sandbar next to the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End produced 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS and a MARBLED GODWIT at high tide last Sunday these among a good assortment of expected species. The sod fields along Route 105 just south of Sound Avenue in Riverhead hosted 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS Saturday to Tuesday with an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER also there Tuesday and another GOLDEN-PLOVER was a Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton last weekend. Cupsogue County Park in Westhampton Dunes, still closed due to the beach house fire, did produce a WHIMBREL and a CASPIAN TERN by boat on Monday. Also out east the lingering RED-NECKED GREBE was still at Mecox Saturday with a CASPIAN TERN there Sunday and Monday. A BAIRD'S SANDPIPER was at Miller Field on Staten Island last weekend and back at Jamaica Bay's East Pond shorebirds still present last weekend included a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, a STILT SANDPIPER plus a few PECTORAL, WESTERN and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS. Waterfowl also now features some AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, BLUE-WINGED TEAL and NORTHERN SHOVELERS.

This past Tuesday produced a seemingly long awaited influx of landbirds into the city parks with nice variety and decent numbers throughout the region. Single CONNECTICUT WARBLERS were spotted in the Ramble in Central Park and at Alley Pond Park in Queens with another the day before at Southold on the north fork of Long Island. Other warblers, most seen on Tuesday with much diminished numbers after that day, included a MOURNING in Prospect Park plus some TENNESSEE, CAPE MAY, BAY-BREASTED, WORM-EATING, HOODED and WILSON'S as well as the many more expected species. Among the other migrants were single RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS in Central Park and Robert Moses State Park Tuesday and at Crocheron Park in Queens on Wednesday. Also noted at Moses Park near the golf course there Tuesday were a DICKCISSEL and 3 flyby PINE SISKINS. There have been a couple of other Siskin reports recently as well. Also on Tuesday several PHILADELPHIA VIREOS were noted and several were also reported back on Sunday in Prospect Park. Other notable recent migrants have featured both YELLOW-BILLED and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, OLIVE-SIDED and YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and PURPLE FINCH.

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 transcript