New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, August 28, 2015:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Aug. 28, 2015
* NYNY1508.28

- Birds Mentioned

AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER+
WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL+
LEACH’S STORM-PETREL+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cory’s Shearwater
Peregrine Falcon
AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER
American Avocet
Whimbrel
MARBLED GODWIT
Western Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
Pectoral Sandpiper
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern
POMARINE JAEGER
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Worm-eating Warbler
GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Mourning Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
LARK SPARROW
DICKCISSEL

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, August 28, 2015
at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL, AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER, POMARINE JAEGER, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, MARBLED GODWIT, BAIRD’S SANDPIPER, RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, PROTHONOTARY and GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLERS, LARK and CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, and DICKCISSEL.

Of note especially to those joining the upcoming pelagic trip, a fishing boat last Friday 80 miles south of Montauk encountered 1 WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL, 1 LEACH’S STORM-PETREL and 3 AUDUBON’S SHEARWATERS among the birds seen.

Interesting for a seabird seldom seen here on land was a POMARINE JAEGER spotted at Jones Beach West End Monday morning on the beach inside Jones Inlet a little passed the fisherman’s access parking lot. Also at West End, the BAIRD’S SANDPIPER was not noted after Saturday, but there was a reasonable variety of shorebirds during the week as well as a few LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS and BLACK TERNS.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER was preset at the south end of the East Pond last Saturday afternoon, but the only other shorebird of real note there this week was a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE spotted yesterday morning just north of the Raunt. There have been some juvenile WESTERN SANDPIPERS recently, with pond counts up to 7, and a fly-by WHIMBREL was reported Wednesday. A single PECTORAL SANDPIPER and a few WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS have been among the species using the pond, but the PEREGRINE FALCONS continue to be a problem, often almost clearing the pond completely; one Peregrine’s dramatic chase of the AMERICAN AVOCET a week earlier, covering half the length of the pond, with the Avocet finally crash diving into the water, where it swam for the next half hour, may have been responsible for the Avocet’s departure. Also on the East Pond have been 2 lingering GULL-BILLED TERNS, 2 BLACK TERNS Wednesday and a CASPIAN TERN sitting in the north end gull roost last Sunday.

Staying with the shorebirds, an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER flew by Robert Moses State Park last Saturday morning, and 1 appeared on a field along Mill Lane in Mattituck Tuesday and Wednesday.

Three separate MARBLED GODWITS featured 1 in Cold Spring Harbor across from the fish hatchery Saturday to Tuesday, 1 at Sunken Meadows State Park Sunday afternoon, and 1 at Cupsogue County Park Wednesday. Also at Cupsogue, a distant CORY’S SHEARWATER and 2 BLACK TERNS on the flats Saturday were followed by 15 ROYAL TERNS there Wednesday.

Among the increasing numbers of migrating passerines, a couple of unusual ones at Robert Moses State Park were a LARK SPARROW last Saturday and presumably the same bird again Wednesday, and DICKCISSEL noted Sunday, Monday, Thursday and today around the periphery of parking field 2. Another DICKCISSEL was spotted Wednesday by the Velodrome parking lot at Kissena Park in Queens and one also visited Coney Island Creek Park in Brooklyn today. Also today a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW appeared around the edge of the main parking lot at Captree State Park.

Highlights among the Warblers have been a GOLDEN-WINGED at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn Thursday and a PROTHONOTARY out east at Trout Pond Park in Noyak last Saturday. In the city parks, especially Central and Prospect, a couple of MOURNING WARBLERS have been noted this week, joining a decent variety that has included WORM-EATING, BAY-BREASTED, BLACKPOLL, CAPE MAY, HOODED and WILSON’S, though numbers of the more unusual species remain expectedly low.

Among the other landbirds reported have been OLIVE-SIDED and YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, and a notable movement of EASTERN KINGBIRDS Tuesday evening at Heckscher State Park featured 223 EASTERN KINGBIRDS moving by in flocks of up to 30 birds. Also notable, a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO was in Prospect Park today and a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was found at Croton Point Park in Westchester Wednesday.

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