New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Thursday, December 17, 2015:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 17, 2015
* NYNY1512.17

- Birds Mentioned

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE+
SWAINSON’S HAWK+
PAINTED BUNTING+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Greater White-fronted Goose
ROSS’S GOOSE
Cackling Goose
Tundra Swan
Eurasian Wigeon
TUFTED DUCK
KING EIDER
HARLEQUIN DUCK
Surf Scoter
Red-throated Loon
Sooty Shearwater
Northern Gannet
Long-billed Dowitcher
Razorbill
Black-legged Kittiwake
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Iceland Gull
GLAUCOUS GULL
Red-headed Woodpecker
WESTERN KINGBIRD
Horned Lark
CAVE SWALLOW
Lapland Longspur
Orange-crowned Warbler
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 Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are PAINTED BUNTING, SWAINSON’S HAWK, TUFTED DUCK, CAVE SWALLOW, PINK-FOOTED and ROSS’S GEESE, KING EIDER and HARLEQUIN DUCK, BLACK-HEADED and GLAUCOUS GULLS, WESTERN KINGBIRD, LARK SPARROW, and DICKCISSEL.

The striking male PAINTED BUNTING continues in Prospect Park, hopefully to stay at least through the upcoming Christmas Count. The bird has remained faithful to the plantings on or adjacent to the green roof of the LeFrak Center and skating rink, located in the southeast corner of the park, just east of Prospect Park Lake. Please remember to stay on the paved pathways when enjoying the Bunting, and while in the park, look for the immature BLACK-HEADED GULL that has been visiting Prospect Park Lake. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was also still in the park Sunday.

Over on Staten Island an immature SWAINSON’S HAWK was spotted Tuesday over the Fresh Kills Landfill and has been noted Wednesday and this morning. Unfortunately the landfill is not open to the public, but birders have stationed themselves around the periphery of the Landfill and have occasionally had some decent views of the SWAINSON’S when it flies around. One successful viewing site has been over the East mound as viewed just south of the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Richmond Hill Road, near Dick’s Sporting Goods, but please respect private property.

Regarding hawks, there have been no reported sightings of the Gyrfalcon at Cedar Beach since Thursday the 10th.

With Christmas Counts starting this weekend and the unusual weather pattern persisting, its impact on the counts will be interesting to see. Out at Montauk Point, for instance, last Saturday morning 6 CAVE SWALLOWS were seen feeding near the restaurant for a little while and a drake KING EIDER flew by the restaurant with some SURF SCOTERS, while the WESTERN KINGBIRD has continued to frequent the parking lot area at the Point to at least Tuesday.

Waterfowl numbers have been relatively low recently, but variety has been good. A young male TUFTED DUCK was spotted last Sunday on Lake Capri in West Islip but has not been seen since. This lake is on the north side of Route 27A less than a mile west of the Robert Moses Causeway.

Three HARLEQUIN DUCKS, including 2 drakes, were around the Point Lookout jetties as of last Saturday, and recent EURASIAN WIGEONS have included drakes on the Centerport Mill Pond and at East Setauket Pond Park, both off Route 25A on the north shore of Long Island, and on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

Among the GEESE, the PINK-FOOTED was seen Saturday in Baiting Hollow, north of Sound Avenue between Oakleigh Avenue and Warner Drive, and a ROSS’S appeared on Eastport Lake off Montauk Highway last weekend; there were no recent reports of the Barnacle Goose from the Mattituck area, but a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was along Further Lane Sunday in East Hampton, where 2 TUNDRA SWANS also continue on Hook Pond. Two CACKLING GEESE were still at Flushing Meadow Park Sunday.

Single BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES were noted at Lake Agawam in Southampton Saturday and off Amagansett Sunday during a sea watch that also recorded an immature GLAUCOUS GULL, 50 RAZORBILLS, 187 NORTHERN GANNETS and 325 RED-THROATED LOONS. Another GLAUCOUS GULL and an ICELAND GULL were at Smith Point Park in Shirley Sunday, and additional ICELANDS occurred off Montauk Point and at the Montauk Harbor jetties Saturday. Decent numbers of RAZORBILLS were also off Montauk Point.

A SOOTY SHEARWATER off Shinnecock Inlet Saturday afternoon was quite late.

Eleven LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS were still along Santapogue Creek in Lindenhurst Saturday, and 2 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were still present at Willowbrook Park on Staten Island Wednesday.

At Jones Beach West End, 1 or 2 LAPLAND LONGSPURS were in a HORNED LARK flock Saturday.

A DICKCISSEL flew over Fuch’s Pond Preserve in Northport Wednesday morning.


What will hopefully be a great bird for the Peekskill Count Saturday is a LARK SPARROW present near the nature center road at Croton Point Park since Sunday.

Several ORANGE-CROWNED are among the various WARBLERS still in the area.

Please call in this weekend’s Christmas Count results. 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