New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 31, 2014:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct. 31, 2014
* NYNY1410.31

- Birds Mentioned

Northern Gannet
MARBLED GODWIT
American Woodcock
Bonaparte’s Gull
ICELAND GULL
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
PARASITIC JAEGER
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Short-eared Owl
WESTERN KINGBIRD
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
VESPER SPARROW
LARK SPARROW
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
LAPLAND LONGSPUR
DICKCISSEL
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
Evening Grosbeak

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, October 31st at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are WESTERN KINGBIRD, PARASITIC JAEGER, ICELAND GULL, MARBLED GODWIT, CLAY-COLORED, LARK and VESPER SPARROWS, DICKCISSEL, LAPLAND LONGSPUR and major migration.

Many, many thousands of birds, especially sparrows, arrived in our area last Saturday morning on the strong northwest winds following last week’s nor’easter, and this impressive flight continued through Tuesday. Along the south shore of Long Island on Saturday, flocks of hundreds of birds, predominantly DARK-EYED JUNCOS and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS plus the omnipresent YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, lined the roadways and made it quite a challenge to find something unusual. Also a major part of this flight were RUBY-CROWNED and, to a lesser degree, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and HERMIT THRUSHES, while high numbers of PINE SISKINS and PURPLE FINCHES continued their recent strong push through our region, but rarities were there to be found.

Robert Moses State Park Saturday produced ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and CLAY-COLORED SPARROW plus a SHORT-EARED OWL, while a LARK SPARROW spotted Sunday, was still present Tuesday by the Golf Course.

At Jones Beach West End, a VESPER SPARROW Saturday was joined by another Sunday along with an obliging CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and a LINCOLN’S SPARROW, the Vespers increasing to three Monday to Wednesday.

The weekend’s rarest bird should have been on last week’s tape, as a WESTERN KINGBIRD visited Stehli Beach in Bayville from Monday the 20th through Saturday, but word of its presence was not spread until Saturday evening—come on, folks.

Saturday also provided a second report of a WESTERN KINGBIRD, an apparently very brief sighting at Fort Tilden, and other birds also cited from there included CLAY-COLORED and VESPER SPARROWS and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Other Saturday VESPER SPARROWS were at Floyd Bennett Field and the Edgemere Landfill, and YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS that day were spotted at Fort Tilden and Gilgo.

And just to put these into perspective with the number of migrants around last weekend, some rather rough estimates of birds moving by Robert Moses State Park Saturday morning included 20,000 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, 6,000 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, 3,600 PINE SISKINS, 2,000 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and 800 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS.

To complete last weekend, a MARBLED GODWIT continued to visit the bar off the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End and was still coming in through Wednesday, and at least 24 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were in the West End 2 Parking Lot on Saturday. At Robert Moses State Park Sunday morning, 4 PARASITIC JAEGERS were spotted off shore, and the weekend marked the beginning of some arriving BONAPARTE’S GULLS and many more NORTHERN GANNETS, the latter streaming by Robert Moses Park by the hundreds on Monday morning.

A Monday highlight was certainly the appearance of a LAPLAND LONGSPUR on the ballfields at Prospect Park; also in the park that day were AMERICAN WOODCOCK and VESPER SPARROW, with three Vespers at the ballfields to Wednesday.

Central Park Tuesday highlights included CAPE MAY and three ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, and VESPER SPARROW.

Single DICKCISSELS Thursday were at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Big Egg Marsh on the south side of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS have enjoyed a decent run this week; besides those already mentioned have been singles at Big Egg Marsh, Cedar Beach, Rocky Point, Hoyt Farm Park in Commack and Southold, among others.

An ICELAND GULL was spotted Tuesday around the dredging operation in Montauk harbor, while some ROYAL TERNS continue along the coast. A late YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO was at Robert Moses State Park Thursday, and EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, AMERICAN PIPITS and RUSTY BLACKBIRDS are among other species now moving through. And a calling but unseen bird moving over Marshlands Conservancy in Rye Monday morning was presumably an EVENING GROSBEAK, so be alert.

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