New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 7, 2016

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct. 7, 2016
* NYNY1610.07

- Birds Mentioned

FRANKLIN’S GULL+
RUFOUS-type HUMMINGBIRD+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

EURASIAN WIGEON
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
American Oystercatcher
American Golden-Plover
Whimbrel
MARBLED GODWIT
Stilt Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Philadelphia Vireo
Tennessee Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Eastern Towhee
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
VESPER SPARROW
LARK SPARROW
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
NELSON’S SPARROW
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
BLUE GROSBEAK
DICKCISSEL
Rusty Blackbird

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, October 7, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are FRANKLIN’S GULL, a RUFOUS-type HUMMINGBIRD, EURASIAN WIGEON, MARBLED GODWIT, LARK, CLAY-COLORED,GRASSHOPPER, VESPER and NELSON’S SPARROWS, BLUE GROSBEAK, DICKCISSEL and more.

On Tuesday evening a FRANKLIN’S GULL was spotted in a flock of LAUGHING GULLS and 2 CASPIAN TERNS on the shore of Wolf’s Pond Park on Staten Island. The Gull shortly lifted off on the rising tide and headed south towards New Jersey.

A SELASPHOROUS HUMMINGBIRD, referred to as a RUFOUS, was photographed Thursday morning at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area but has not been seen since - hopefully analysis of the photos can confirm the identification.

The drake EURASIAN WIGEON was still present on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at least to Tuesday, and another drake was spotted Tuesday on the Mill Pond in Setauket. Among the other birds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Sunday were a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, 2 STILT SANDPIPERS, 2 CASPIAN TERNS, and a BALD EAGLE plus BAY-BREASTED and CAPE MAY WARBLERS.

Other regional shorebirds featured a MARBLED GODWIT still in the Oak Beach area last Sunday, viewed near Fire Island Inlet from the Oak Beach Road, a WHIMBREL at Jones Beach West End last Saturday, and single AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS last Saturday at Floyd Bennett Field and at Great Kills Park on Staten Island, the latter site also producing another WHIMBREL. Shorebirds at Jones Beach West End Monday included 1 WESTERN, 1 PECTORAL and 2 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS plus hundreds of AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS.

To finish up the non-passerines, a BLACK VULTURE, a very unusual visitor at the Fire Island hawk watch last Sunday, was later seen at Oak Beach, and a count of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS along the Jones Beach strip last Saturday came up with 18.

Among a few lingering CASPIAN TERNS were 2 at Jones Beach West End at least to Wednesday and 1 last Saturday at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach along with a nice gathering of 29 ROYAL TERNS, 5 still there Monday, when 12 were also still at Cupsogue County Park.

A somewhat late push of COMMON NIGHTHAWKS this week included up to 30 from Sunday to Thursday over the Setauket Mill Pond at Frank Melville Park and over 20 at Caumsett State Park late morning Thursday.

A nice variety of passerines during the week featured single LARK SPARROWS at the Fire Island Lighthouse Saturday and at Gilgo Sunday, with a report at Central Park’s north end Tuesday, while CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS were spotted Tuesday in Prospect Park and Coney Island Creek Park. A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was found at Floyd Bennett Field Monday, with a VESPER SPARROW in Central Park Wednesday, and NELSON’S SPARROWS are now appearing in regional salt marshes such as Plumb Beach in Brooklyn and along the south shore of Long Island, though some internet photos seem to indicate the difficulties that do exist in separating the races of NELSON’S from the variable fall plumages of SALTMARSH SPARROWS. LINCOLN’S and WHITE-CROWNED are among the other SPARROWS now moving through.

Three BLUE GROSBEAKS his week included 1 at Inwood Hill in Manhattan Monday, followed by 1 at Jones Beach West End Tuesday and another at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye today.

DICKCISSELS have also been moving through this week, including 2 at Floyd Bennett Field last Sunday, another at Caumsett State Park that day, 1 at Jones Beach West End Monday and Tuesday, another at Coney Island Creek Tuesday, and 1 visiting Kissena Park in Queens Wednesday.

A PHILADELPHIA VIREO was noted on Staten Island Sunday, with another reported from Prospect Park Thursday.

WARBLER variety has been expectedly decreasing, but decent continuing variety has featured such species as TENNESSEE, CAPE MAY, BAY-BREASTED and WILSON’S.

Other notable migrants this week have included YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER and RUSTY BLACKBIRD, while among those arriving in numbers have been some YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and EASTERN TOWHEE.

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