New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, May 13, 2016:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* May 13, 2016
* NYNY1605.13

- Birds Mentioned

MISSISSIPPI KITE+
WHITE-WINGED DOVE+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

American Bittern
SANDHILL CRANE
WILSON’S PLOVER
Upland Sandpiper
WHIMBREL
Stilt Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Glaucous Gull
Caspian Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
CHUCK-WILL’S WIDOW
Eastern Whip-Poor-Will
Red-headed Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Bicknell’s Thrush
Worm-eating Warbler
GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
Tennessee Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Orange-crowned Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
LARK SPARROW
SUMMER TANAGER
BLUE GROSBEAK
Bobolink

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 13, 2016 at 8:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are MISSISSIPPI KITE, SANDHILL CRANE, WILSON’S PLOVER, WHITE-WINGED DOVE, CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW, WHIMBREL, PROTHONOTARY and GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLERS, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, and LARK SPARROW.

With the first seven days in May really inappropriate for bird migration to any extent, finally last Saturday winds shifted and brought a lot of migrants to our area. Sunday was good locally in most places, though the constant favorable migratory weather on subsequent days did enable birds to move through rather quickly.

Rarities were interesting and actually began last Saturday when birders at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden watched a MISSISSIPPI KITE fly overhead from Prospect Park out to the northeast. Two subsequent reports of MISSISSIPPI KITE involved fly-bys over northern Staten Island Monday, going northwest, and over Doodletown Road in Rockland County Tuesday. Interesting to note that a brood of 17-year Cicadas is scheduled to emerge this year in New York and will hopefully attract more Kites locally.

A nicely visible CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW perched low in the Central Park Ramble Sunday was a delight, especially with an AMERICAN BITTERN nearby.

On Monday what was believed to be a SANDHILL CRANE flew high over the Bronx Zoo. Then on Wednesday a male WILSON’S PLOVER was photographed at Democrat Point on the western tip of Fire Island but was not refound subsequently. Thursday produced a fly-by WHITE-WINGED DOVE at Jones Beach West End, recognizably photographed as it disappeared along the fisherman’s access road; that too has not been relocated.

The list of other interesting birds is long: at Jones Beach West End Wednesday there were 4 WHIMBREL on the Coast Guard bar, following an initial one Sunday, and an UPLAND SANDPIPER was at Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn Saturday, while two STILT SANDPIPERS and 2 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS were at Oak Beach marsh today. A GLAUCOUS GULL was spotted on the flats at Great Kills Park on Staten Island Thursday, and a CASPIAN TERN was still visiting Prospect Park Lake last Saturday, with 1 at Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton Sunday.

Other non-passerines occurring recently have included COMMON NIGHTHAWK and WHIP-POOR-WILL and both YELLOW-BILLED and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS. RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were in Prospect Park Tuesday and Forest Park Wednesday.

Among the passerines, certainly unseasonal was the LARK SPARROW found Monday at Robert Moses State Park Field 2. More SUMMER TANAGERS than we can list here have featured birds in Central and Prospect Parks from Sunday, following 1 on Riverside Drive Saturday, and also including individuals on Staten Island Monday and 1 at the Rocky Point Preserve yesterday.

BLUE GROSBEAKS were noted Thursday in Riverside Park, Manhattan and Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

All the THRUSHES lately have included a few GRAY-CHEEKED and a BICKNELL’S singing on Staten Island Thursday and today. OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was in Central Park Monday, and EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE, ACADIAN and WILLOW FLYCATCHERS have arrived, as have BOBOLINKS.

And of course there are the WARBLERS - a PROTHONOTARY was reported at the Cemetery of the Resurrection on Staten Island Wednesday, and a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER was in Prospect Park Sunday and Monday, where a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT appeared today. Among the other 30 species of WARBLERS seen were decent numbers of WORM-EATING, some TENNESSEES from Saturday, ORANGE-CROWNEDS in Central and Prospect Parks plus Hempstead Lake State Park, KENTUCKY at Doodletown, some HOODED, CERULEAN in Inwood Hill and Forest Parks and Hunter’s Garden in Eastport, some CAPE MAYS and BAY-BREASTEDS, CANADAS and WILSON’S, and a YELLOW-THROATED still at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum Wednesday. A “LAWRENCE’S” hybrid was in Central Park Sunday.

Good week!

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