New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, September 30, 2016:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Sept. 30, 2016
* NYNY1609.30

- Birds Mentioned

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

EURASIAN WIGEON
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Common Gallinule
American Golden-Plover
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER
POMARINE JAEGER
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern
Cory’s Shearwater
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
PHILADELPHIA VIREO
Gray-cheeked Thrush
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
VESPER SPARROW
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
SUMMER TANAGER
DICKCISSEL
Pine Siskin

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, September 30, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, EURASIAN WIGEON, POMARINE JAEGER, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, SUMMER TANAGER, PHILADELPHIA VIREO, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, DICKCISSEL and CLAY-COLORED and VESPER SPARROWS.

Qualifying as this week’s most interesting oddity, especially by location, was a report of a male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD photographed Monday on one of the barges off Nyack associated with the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge the numbers of waterfowl on the East Pond continue to climb, these including a few NORTHERN PINTAIL, some BLUE-WINGED TEAL and lots of NORTHERN SHOVELERS, and on Wednesday a drake EURASIAN WIGEON, probably a returning bird, was picked out among the duck assemblage. Also at the Bay have been a diminishing number of shorebirds that Wednesday still included 1 WHITE-RUMPED and 3 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS and 2 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, the latter increasing to 3 Thursday. A couple of CASPIAN TERNS also continue to visit the north end of the pond.

The city parks continue to enjoy a decent variety of migrants. Warblers are giving way to Sparrows, but Central Park did provide reports of CONNECTICUT WARBLER from Saturday and Wednesday among the over 20 species spotted there during the week, including CAPE MAY and BAY-BREASTED. On Sunday a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was found in the Park’s north end, followed by a Tuesday report in the Ramble, and a VESPER SPARROW was also noted in the north end Sunday. Other SPARROWS have included LINCOLN’S and WHITE-CROWNED, and other notable migrants have featured both YELLOW-BILLED and BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS, still, as well as YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park also contributed PHILADELPHIA VIREO Saturday to yesterday along with a nice mix of birds, and another PHILADELPHIA VIREO was in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn Tuesday.

Kissena Park in Queens produced a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW last Saturday, and seen there Tuesday were an ORANGE-CROWNED and 2 CAPE MAY WARBLERS and a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. Other ORANGE-CROWNEDS were reported from Greenwood Cemetery and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Wednesday.

Moving to Long Island’s south shore, interesting passerines this week featured a SUMMER TANAGER photographed at Jones Beach West End Monday morning, DICKCISSEL and 4 PINE SISKINS at Robert Moses State Park Sunday, and some AMERICAN PIPITS now joining the migratory parade.

Most surprising among the non-passerines was a POMARINE JAEGER identified off Robert Moses State Park Thursday morning, making a rare onshore visit and joining 3 or more CORY’S SHEARWATERS in a modest flight.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL numbers have increased nicely in recent days - a count from Point Lookout to Robert Moses State Park, including Jones Beach West End, Tobay and Captree, netted between 30 to 40 this morning, so watch for them especially in parking lots where Gulls gather.

A BLACK TERN was still at Jones Beach West End Wednesday.

Besides at Jamaica Bay, other CASPIAN TERNS featured 1 at Mecox Sunday, 2 at Jones Beach West End mid-week and 2 at Heckscher State Park Tuesday, while ROYAL TERNS at Cupsogue County Park were down to 29 Sunday.

On Sunday 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were on the Mecox flats and 5 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS were at Breezy Point.

A COMMON GALLINULE was still on Massapequa Lake north of Merrick Road in Massapequa Preserve at least to 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