New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, February 20, 2015:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Feb. 20, 2015
* NYNY1502.20

- Birds Mentioned

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE+
GYRFALCON+
MEW GULL+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Greater White-Fronted Goose
Cackling Goose
EURASIAN WIGEON
Green-winged Teal
GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Eurasian form
BARROW’S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Goshawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson’s Snipe
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
SNOWY OWL
Short-eared Owl
Horned Lark
BOHEMIAN WAXWING
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lapland Longspur
Snow 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, February 20 at 7:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are MEW GULL, PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, BOHEMIAN WAXWING, BLACK-HEADED GULL, BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, Eurasian form of GREEN-WINGED TEAL, EURASIAN WIGEON and SNOWY OWL, plus an extralimital GYRFALCON.

The first winter MEW GULL, of the western subspecies brachyrhynchus, continues its presence in Brooklyn, though its whereabouts 99% of the time is unknown. For a few minutes Thursday it was seen on rocks just south of BJ’s Wholesale Club, which is just a quarter mile southeast of the Caesar’s Bay Plaza shopping center area, where the previous sightings have occurred. The gull soon flew up over the nearby Belt Parkway and disappeared. Somewhere nearby it has a site where it comfortably spends much of its time.

The PINK-FOOTED GOOSE in Riverhead also remains elusive, but here the problem usually is to pick it out among the few thousand CANADA GEESE using the rolling sod fields located south of Sound Avenue between Doctor’s Path on the west and Route 105 on the east, as the PINK-FOOTED is often fairly well hidden among the Canadas and crevasses in the fields. A GREATER-WHITE FRONTED and CACKLING GEESE are also present there.

The Jones Beach West End BOHEMIAN WAXWING was still present in the median near the turnaround last Saturday, but we have nothing confirmed since then. A decent gathering of LAPLAND LONGSPURS at West End included 9 counted Wednesday among a large number of HORNED LARKS and SNOW BUNTINGS. A flock of 20 plus COMMON REDPOLLS continues to roam the West End, and a NORTHERN GOSHAWK was reported there again Wednesday, with a SHORT-EARED OWL there Monday.

A SNOWY OWL was still at Floyd Bennett Field last weekend.

An immature BLACK-HEADED GULL was spotted Sunday afternoon at Five Islands Park in New Rochelle, this perhaps the same bird previously at that location into last December. It has not been relocated during the week.

The drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE was still present a little west of the Sands Point Preserve last Saturday, and a female type BARROW’S continues on a pond at Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island, this just north of Richmond Road.

A male Eurasian form of GREEN-WINGED TEAL was seen with American GREEN-WINGED TEAL Wednesday through today at Brookville Park in Queens, this along the west side of Brookville Boulevard.

A drake EURASIAN WIGEON remains at Bush Terminal Piers Park in Brooklyn, this site also hosting one of the several RED-NECKED GREBES lingering along the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfront.

Birds at the Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park in Brooklyn this week included the lingering WILSON’S SNIPE, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, a SHORT-EARED OWL Tuesday, BALD EAGLE and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. Quite a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS have been pushed further south by the snows, and a good stretch to see multiple ROUGH-LEGGEDS recently has been Ocean Parkway from Jones Beach West End to Cedar Beach, but they could be encountered almost anywhere.

Single GLAUCOUS GULLS were spotted at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island Thursday, on Governor’s Island on Wednesday and around the fishing pier in Mt. Sinai Harbor Monday, while an ICELAND GULL continues along the Brooklyn waterfront, with another at Huguenot Avenue Beach on Staten Island Thursday.

Four BLACK VULTURES were spotted over 72nd Street and the West Side Highway in Manhattan last Sunday, and a COMMON REDPOLL continues to visit the Ramble feeders in Central Park.

The ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was still surviving in the cattails at Hempstead Lake State Park Thursday, and a LAPLAND LONGSPUR was at Robert Moses State Park last weekend.

Check the internet for updated information on the GYRFALCON in Ulster County.

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