New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, June 10, 2016:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* June 10, 2016
* NYNY1606.10

- Birds Mentioned

WHITE-FACED IBIS+
MISSISSIPPI KITE+
BLACK-NECKED STILT+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cory’s Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
MANX SHEARWATER
AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
LEACH’S STORM-PETREL
BROWN PELICAN
LEAST BITTERN
Glossy Ibis
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
Pomarine Jaeger
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Royal Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Gray-cheeked Thrush
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Mourning Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Grasshopper Sparrow
SUMMER TANAGER
BLUE GROSBEAK


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, June 10, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are BLACK-NECKED STILT, BROWN PELICAN, WHITE-FACED IBIS, MISSISSIPPI KITE, RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, AUDUBON’S and MANX SHEARWATERS, LEACH’S STORM-PETREL, LEAST BITTERN, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK and PROTHONOTARY and YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS.

A nice week for rarities, with last week’s BLACK-NECKED STILT staying in the marsh north of the parking lot for Smith Point Marina in Shirley at least to Monday.

On Sunday a BROWN PELICAN was spotted flying along the ocean off Robert Moses State Park, and Sunday also produced the season’s first WHITE-FACED IBIS, with one appearing among a sizeable gathering of GLOSSY IBIS at the south end of the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. The WHITE-FACED was also seen there again briefly on Thursday. Last Saturday the East Pond also attracted a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE at the south end but not thereafter.

A MISSISSIPPI KITE was reported from Sterling Forest in Rockland County yesterday.

The Captree Summer Bird Count held last Saturday recorded 123 species and also added to the rarities list, Connetquot River State Park providing a LEAST BITTERN and a continuing but seldom encountered PROTHONOTARY WARBLER up near the fish hatchery and 2 YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, these nesting near the park entrance and adjacent park buildings. Also on the Count were 2 male SUMMER TANAGERS found at Heckscher State Park and 5 ROSEATE TERNS at Democrat Point at the west end of Fire Island, where SOOTY SHEARWATER and WILSON’S STORM-PETREL were noted offshore, with a MANX SHEARWATER there the previous evening. Both YELLOW-BILLED and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS were on the count, continuing their good numbers regionally this year.

In Calverton Saturday a pair of SUMMER TANAGERS and a male BLUE GROSBEAK were around the southwest end of the former Grumman Airport, where good numbers of GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS are also in residence.

Sea watching along the south shore of Long Island this time of year can produce various SHEARWATERS, such as the 1 CORY’S and 3 SOOTY SHEARWATERS seen off Jones Beach Field 6 on Sunday, and results generally improve the further east you go, but certainly notable was the gathering of roughly 300 SHEARWATERS off Camp Hero at Montauk Point State Park on Monday, these all CORY’S and SOOTY but for the 1 GREAT SHEARWATER identified. Also present there were 4 BLACK TERNS, these interestingly absent, or at least undetected, in our region until sightings Sunday from Staten Island and Fort Tilden, followed by other singles Monday at Breezy Point and Shinnecock Inlet.

Nonetheless, for pelagics it is best to get offshore. Weather unfortunately forced a cancellation of the scheduled See Life Paulagics trip this week, but a private fishing boat out well south of Shinnecock Inlet last Friday and Saturday encountered a few hundred LEACH’S STORM-PETRELS and good numbers of WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS, most of them at night, along with small numbers of CORY’S, GREAT and SOOTY SHEARWATERS plus 2 MANX and 1 AUDUBON’S SHEARWATERS and 2 POMARINE JAEGERS.

ROYAL TERNS were noted Saturday at Great Kills Park on Staten Island and at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn, along with 2 Sunday at Jones Beach West End, where 4 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were present.

For land birds the migration is all but over. An OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER in Central Park last Saturday and a few species of WARBLERS, including some expectedly late MOURNINGS, have been present this week. Other notable late migrants have included ACADIAN FLYCATCHER and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.

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