New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, May 6, 2016:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* May 06, 2016
* NYNY1605.06

- Birds Mentioned

CURLEW SANDPIPER+
HERMIT WARBLER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

KING EIDER
Horned Grebe
Cattle Egret
Semipalmated Plover
UPLAND SANDPIPER
WHIMBREL
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Least Tern
CASPIAN TERN
Common Tern
SNOWY OWL
Whip-poor-will
Red-headed Woodpecker
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s Thrush
Worm-eating Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Prairie Warbler
Canada Warbler
Grasshopper Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
SUMMER TANAGER

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, May 6, 2016 at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are HERMIT WARBLER, CURLEW SANDPIPER, KING EIDER, SNOWY OWL, UPLAND SANDPIPER, WHIMBREL, CASPIAN TERN, SUMMER TANAGER, YELLOW-THROATED and other WARBLERS and spring migrants.

Not a great week for migration locally. Continued northerly and easterly winds are, at best, pushing a majority of our migrants to the west of us, while holding up others, but many regional breeders are making their way to their nesting grounds.

Nonetheless, some interesting birds have occurred, certainly the best of which was the apparent HERMIT WARBLER enjoyed by three birders tolerating very distasteful weather in Central Park last Sunday morning. Though singing a somewhat aberrant song for a HERMIT, more reminiscent of a Black-throated Green’s song, the few photos and descriptions certainly seem to point to a pure HERMIT. Unfortunately the bird was never relocated after the initial sighting.

Though generally in sparse numbers, besides the Hermit and last week’s Swainson’s, about 29 other species of WARBLERS were seen locally this week. New arrivals have included a GOLDEN-WINGED reported at Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island Thursday, CERULEANS noted at Inwood Hill Park Sunday, Prospect Park Monday and Willowbrook Park on Staten Island Thursday, and a CANADA in Rye Monday. A YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER continued in Central Park to Saturday, with another in Prospect Park Monday, and 1 was still singing at Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River Saturday. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was at Central Park’s north end Saturday, and another visited Hempstead Lake State Park Monday and Tuesday. Other of the currently less common WARBLERS have featured a few WORM-EATING, BLUE-WINGED, NASHVILLE, HOODED, CAPE MAY, MAGNOLIA, BLACKBURNIAN, CHESTNUT-SIDED, BLACKPOLL and PRAIRIE.

Another passerine of note was a SUMMER TANAGER at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn Saturday.

The week’s other exceptional report involved a CURLEW SANDPIPER in good plumage at Big Egg Marsh in Broad Channel Wednesday morning, noted by a single observer in a large flock of DUNLIN that also included a few hundred RED KNOTS as well as SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, RUDDY TURNSTONES, LEAST and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS and other expected species. A CATTLE EGRET was reported there today.

An interesting movement of CASPIAN TERNS through the region recently, mostly along the Hudson River, has also produced one at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn Monday and 1 at Montauk Point Tuesday, with Wednesday finding 1 at Prospect Park Lake and 1 on Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond. On Thursday 2 were noted visiting Prospect Park, 1 today, and singles were spotted Thursday at Quogue Wildlife Refuge and in Milton Harbor in Rye, with 1 again at Southard’s Pond Park in Babylon today.

Other migrants of interest this week included a WHIMBREL along Dune Road west of Shinnecock Inlet Monday along with a few NELSON’S SPARROWS, an UPLAND SANDPIPER nicely photographed in the swale at Jones Beach West End Wednesday, a WHIP-POOR-WILL singing in Mamaroneck Wednesday, and CLIFF and BANK SWALLOWS at Hempstead Lake State Park Thursday.

A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW continued at Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn to Saturday, and another was photographed at the Great Hill in Central Park Wednesday.

Two LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were noted at Floyd Bennett Field Tuesday.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were still at Willowbrook Park on Staten Island yesterday, Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island Tuesday, Maple Swamp off Pleasure Drive in Flanders Monday, and Muscoot Farm in Westchester Monday.

Among some notable “winter” birds seen this week were a female KING EIDER off Orient Point Sunday, a breeding plumaged HORNED GREBE on Central Park Reservoir this week, a GLAUCOUS GULL at Smith Point County Park Monday, and a SNOWY OWL photographed on Fisher’s Island last Saturday.

Among some new recent arrivals have been COMMON and LEAST TERNS and SWAINSON’S and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSHES.

Of interest have been 3 SEASIDE SPARROWS along the Hudson River Greenway around 55th Street in Manhattan to today.

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