New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, June 9, 2017:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* June 9, 2017
* NYNY1706.09

- Birds Mentioned

BLACK-NECKED STILT+
ARCTIC TERN+
SANDWICH TERN+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Whimbrel
Red Knot
White-rumped Sandpiper
Bonaparte’s Gull
LITTLE GULL
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Least Tern
GULL-BILLED TERN
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
NORTHERN FULMAR
Cory’s Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Great Shearwater
MANX SHEARWATER
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
Least Bittern
Cattle Egret
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Tennessee Warbler
Mourning Warbler
KENTUCKY WARBLER
Cape May Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Nelson’s 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
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 9, 2017 at 8:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are BLACK-NECKED STILT, SANDWICH, ARCTIC, GULL-BILLED and other TERNS, LITTLE GULL, NORTHERN FULMAR, and MANX SHEARWATER, YELLOW-THROATED and KENTUCKY WARBLERS, SUMMER TANAGER and BLUE GROSBEAK.

Diminishing bird activity in the city parks has been offset recently by nice concentrations of shorebirds and terns along the coast. Decent gatherings of shorebirds at sites such as Jones Beach West End and along the flats from Cupsogue County Park in Westhampton Dunes east to Shinnecock have provided good numbers and variety, including some RED KNOTS and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS, but the shorebird highlights for the week have been a BLACK-NECKED STILT spotted in Mecox Bay near the cut last Sunday that was still present Wednesday and a WHIMBREL at Great Kills Park on Staten Island on Monday. Eleven species of TERNS and SKIMMERS featured 2 SANDWICH TERNS spotted near the eastern tern and skimmer colony at Nickerson Beach in Lido Beach on Tuesday. The nice variety at Nickerson, presumably attracted by the large volume of activity around the COMMON and LEAST TERN and BLACK SKIMMER colonies also produced an adult ARCTIC TERN Wednesday and Friday and a BLACK, 2 ROYAL and up to 9 ROSEATE TERNS Wednesday along with up to 17 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS and 2 BONAPARTE’S GULLS. An immature LITTLE GULL was reported there Tuesday, and a GULL-BILLED TERN or 2 also reside in the colony there. A stiff fee is charged at Nickerson when the booths are open.

A first summer ARCTIC TERN was on the Cupsogue flats back on the 2nd, and during the week Cupsogue also attracted ROSEATE TERN plus a BLACK on Thursday, with 2 ROYAL TERNS along Dune Road Tuesday. A CASPIAN TERN visited Mecox Monday and Tuesday, and 3 ROYAL TERNS stopped by Plumb Beach in Brooklyn Monday.

For the GULLS, a GLAUCOUS was still at Mecox Sunday, with an ICELAND at Smith Point County Park this week, while a number of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS remain along the south shore.

Sea watching continues to be slow from shore, with 2 SOOTY SHEARWATERS off Robert Moses State Park Tuesday, but a boat trip to Block Canyon southeast of Montauk last Sunday noted a NORTHERN FULMAR, 24 CORY’S, 27 GREAT, 13 SOOTY and 2 MANX SHEARWATERS and 13 WILSON’S STORM-PETRELS.

A LEAST BITTERN has been heard recently near Big John’s Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, and a CATTLE EGRET was still visiting Cow Meadow Park in Freeport at least to Wednesday.

With nesting season now in full swing, presumably on territory has been a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River, with another YELLOW-THROATED at Connetquot River State Park last Saturday also returning to a previous breeding site. Other species likely nesting and thus requiring absolute minimal disturbance include the SUMMER TANAGER again appearing this year at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay and scattered BLUE GROSBEAKS, including birds at the Calverton Grasslands, with other singles noted in Huntington Sunday and at Connetquot River State Park Thursday.

Single KENTUCKY and MOURNING WARBLERS were spotted in Central Park yesterday, and among the other dozen plus WARBLERS for the week have been TENNESSEE and CAPE MAY.

A continuing nice selection of FLYCATCHERS has included ACADIAN, ALDER and YELLOW-BELLIED.

NELSON’S SPARROW continues to be seen at Plumb Beach in Brooklyn.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were noted Sunday at Connetquot River State Park and Monday at Muscoot Farm in northern Westchester County.

To phone in reports, please call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922 and leave a message.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript