New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, December 22, 2017:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Dec. 22, 2017
* NYNY1712.22


- Birds Mentioned

PINK-FOOTED GOOSE+
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD+
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE+
WESTERN TANAGER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Greater White-fronted Goose
“Black” Brant
Cackling Goose
Tundra Swan
Eurasian Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
King Eider
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE
Red-necked Grebe
EARED GREBE
Common Gallinule
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Rough-legged Hawk
Semipalmated Plover
Lesser Yellowlegs
Razorbill
Black-legged Kittiwake
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Barn Owl
Snowy Owl
Short-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Merlin
Eastern Phoebe
Lapland Longspur
Northern Waterthrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
HOODED WARBLER
“AUDUBON’S” YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
Clay-colored Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
Indigo Bunting
Rusty Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole
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

Compilers: Tom Burke and 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, December 22, 2017 at 8:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, WESTERN TANAGER, TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, EARED GREBE, PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, HOODED and “AUDUBON'S” YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and much more.

The Christmas Count season, providing good coverage throughout much of our area, also usually produces some great birds, a perfect example being the MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD found during the Captree Count. The female-plumaged Bluebird was still present at least through yesterday at Democrat Point, the western tip of Fire Island, favoring a stand of Red Cedars along the bay side of the peninsula west of Parking Field 2. Please refer to the directions posted on the internet to find this bird.

The WESTERN TANAGER included on the Queen's Count continues at Crocheron Park around the pond at the south end of the park.

A TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE was spotted Wednesday near Oyster Bay along Sandy Hollow Road just north of the Tiffany Creek Preserve but has not been reported since.

Two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were spotted Sunday flying over Peconic Bay during the Quogue-Watermill Count, and then on Thursday afternoon one appeared on Playland Lake in Rye, where it remained all day today.

An EARED GREBE remains in Fire Island Inlet off the western end of Oak Beach Road.

A drake BARROW'S GOLDENEYE and a “BLACK” BRANT were seen from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Friday, that same day finding four female KING EIDERS in Shinnecock Bay and two TUNDRA SWANS and a SHORT-EARED OWL at Hook Pond in Easthampton.

For last weekend's Christmas Counts, on a very windy Saturday the Montauk Count netted 122 species, including a PINK-FOOTED GOOSE still in that area and seen on Montauk Downs Golf Course. Also on that Count were two female KING EIDERS, three BALD EAGLES and three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, one GLAUCOUS, one LESSER BLACK-BACKED and two ICELAND GULLS, five RAZORBILLS, four SNOWY OWLS, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, an ”AUDUBON'S” YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and GRASSHOPPER SPARROW.

Kings County on Saturday among their 121 species featured two EURASIAN WIGEON, three RED-NECKED GREBES, a COMMON GALLINULE continuing in Prospect Park, BALD EAGLE, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, single BARN and SNOWY OWLS, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, six ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS and two BALTIMORE ORIOLES.

On Saturday Northern Nassau tallied 94 species, with three CACKLING GEESE, seven BALD EAGLES, two SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, two MERLINS, and 21 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS.

During the better Sunday weather Captree netted 125 species, including CACKLING GOOSE, two LESSER YELLOWLEGS, two RAZORBILLS, two BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, two SNOWY and two NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS, LAPLAND LONGSPUR., two ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, BALTIMORE ORIOLE, PINE SISKIN and, of course, the MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD.

Queens on Sunday produced 123 species, highlights including BLUE-WINGED TEAL, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, two BALD EAGLES, RAZORBILL, LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, EASTERN PHOEBE, a male HOODED WARBLER, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, INDIGO BUNTING, VESPER SPARROW and the celebrated WESTERN TANAGER.

Greenwich-Stamford, including parts of Westchester, netted 103 species, with CACKLING GOOSE, EURASIAN WIGEON, two RED-NECKED GREBES, OSPREY, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL and PINE SISKIN.

Other notables for the week included GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE at Belmont Lake State Park, Elda Lake in Babylon, Reeves Avenue in Riverhead and in Rye, Westchester County. Locations for EURASIAN WIGEON included the Salt Marsh Nature Center and Brooklyn Army Terminal Pier 4 on the Kings Count as well as on Patchogue Lake, Eastport Lake and Agawam Lake in South Hampton.

A GLAUCOUS GULL was in Bellport Bay Monday, an ICELAND Gull at Pelham Bay Park Wednesday. A dark ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was photographed at Brooklyn’s Salt Marsh Nature Center Thursday, and a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW remains at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center in Yaphank.

To phone in reports, on Long Island call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 or 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