New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, January 2, 2015:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Jan. 2, 2015
* NYNY1501.02

- Birds Mentioned

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE+
BARNACLE GOOSE+
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE+
COUCH’S KINGBIRD+
CASSIN’S KINGBIRD+
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Eurasian Wigeon
Common Eider
BARROW’S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black Vulture
Northern Goshawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Clapper Rail
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
DOVEKIE
Barn Owl
Barred Owl
Long-eared Owl
Eastern Phoebe
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pine Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat
Clay-colored Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Common Redpoll


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, January 2 at
8:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are COUCH’S and CASSIN’S KINGBIRDS, PINK-FOOTED, BARNACLE and GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, BLACK-HEADED GULL, DOVEKIE and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

Adding a nice touch to the New Year, New York’s two fabulous Kingbirds have both lingered into January. The COUCH’S KINGBIRD, seen today, wanders quite a bit around the lower West Side in Manhattan, but recent favored locations have been around Abingdon Square Park at the intersections of 8th Avenue and Bleeker and Hudson Streets and near the West 11th Street intersection with West 4th Street, which is a north-south street at that point. The other key location had been along Washington Street between Jane and Horatio Streets. The Kingbird likes to perch on balcony railings as well as in trees and can move about frequently but seems to return to its favored sites. Today it spent much of its time around the West 11th Street and West 4th Street location.

The CASSIN’S KINGBIRD at Floyd Bennett Field on Thursday flew into the north end of the Community Garden from the northeast, worked its way down to the picnic area at the south end of the Garden and, after a half-hour of feeding, then disappeared for the rest of the day. The strong wind may have been a factor. Today it reappeared in the picnic area and observers noted that not pushing the bird paid off with a prolonged stay.

For local Christmas Counts last weekend, on Saturday the Smithtown count netted 111 species, including 3 CACKLING GEESE, COMMON EIDER, RED-NECKED GREBE, BARN OWL, EASTERN PHOEBE, TREE SWALLOW, HOUSE WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and PINE WARBLER.

The Bronx-Westchester Count last Sunday recorded 124 species, including EURASIAN WIGEON, 2 CLAPPER RAILS, GLAUCOUS GULL, GREAT and SNOWY EGRETS, BARRED and LONG-EARED OWLS, MARSH WREN, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK and INDIGO BUNTING.

Out on eastern Long Island a PINK-FOOTED GOOSE plus a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE were seen yesterday and today with Canadas on a field along Doctor’s Path north of the intersection with Reeves Avenue and south of Sound Avenue, this north of Riverhead.

The BARNACLE GOOSE has been seen recently at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, best viewed from the Wellwood Avenue side. The Barnacle and up to three GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE are often at the south end of the cemetery but might also be on the private Colonial Springs Golf Club to the northeast. These Geese could also be looked for at Belmont Lake State Park to the east, the lake used as an overnight roost. Other Greater White-Fronteds recently have included singles at Orient State Park last Friday and in Old Brookville Monday.

Look for the two TUNDRA SWANS on Hook Pond in East Hampton.

Drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYES were present off Sands Point Preserve at least to Monday and off Horton’s Point, west of Greenport on the north fork last Sunday.

Recent EURASIAN WIGEONS have been at Bush Terminal Piers Park in Brooklyn, Mill Pond in Merrick, and Setauket Harbor, plus one on Cooper’s Neck Pond in Southampton Monday.

An immature BLACK-HEADED GULL, perhaps the same one recently hanging around Jones Inlet, was seen Thursday and today at the Field 10 Fishing Piers at Jones Beach State Park. Other Black-headed Gulls have included an adult in Setauket Harbor to today, 1 off Riverside Park in Manhattan Tuesday, and 1 again at Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton last Friday.

A DOVEKIE was spotted off Montauk Point on Thursday.

A female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was found yesterday in a large flock near the intersection of Sound Avenue and West Lane in Northville on Long Island’s north shore. It was not seen there today.

Other interesting but very scattered reports include 4 RED-NECKED GREBES off Floyd Bennett Field last Saturday, a BLACK VULTURE in Riverhead Monday, a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK at Spring Creek Sunday, an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK at Jones Beach West End again last weekend, an ICELAND GULL on the East River Monday, a GLAUCOUS GULL at Shinnecock today, and an EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE at Chelsea Waterside Park around the end of West 24th Street in Manhattan again last Saturday. Nice among the passerines were 4 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS near Sagg Pond Tuesday, a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT along Ocean Parkway near Cedar Beach recently, a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW in Prospect Park to last Friday, a COMMON REDPOLL in Stony Brook today, and COMMON RAVENS everywhere.

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