New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, March 23, 2018:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Mar. 23, 2018
* NYNY1803.23

- Birds mentioned
MEW GULL+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
EURASIAN WIGEON
Red-necked Grebe
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey
Piping Plover
BLACK-HEADED GULL
Laughing Gull
ICELAND GULL
Tree Swallow

- Transcript

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 nysarc44(at)nybirds{dot}org.

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: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, March 23rd 2018 at 8pm. The highlights of today's tape are MEW GULL, BLACK-HEADED GULL, ICELAND GULL, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, EURASIAN WIGEON and a few seasonal arrivals.

Still with a winter flavor but somewhat impacted by the March doldrums and our parade of Nor'easters this week's tape does feature another MEW GULL sighting. This of an adult spotted Sunday morning at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Piers Park. It was photographed as it fed alongside one of the piers but soon disappeared and could not be relocated. This is possibly the same bird found at Floyd Bennett Field last Friday. An immature BLACK-HEADED GULL was seen again Tuesday afternoon at Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn occurring around the middle parking lot off the eastbound Belt Parkway. This an often productive site for gulls. An ICELAND GULL in Brooklyn Thursday was at the Veteran's Memorial Pier.

Among the lingering unusual waterfowl have been a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE present Sunday at Belmont Lake State Park and another continuing through yesterday at Tung Ting Pond in Centerport. A drake EURASIAN WIGEON was still present at least up to Tuesday at the Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park in Brooklyn. A RED-NECKED GREBE was still on the Restoration Pond at Alley Pond Park in Queens on Tuesday and another was still around the Point Lookout Lido Marina on Monday.

Rather unusual, a small group of 6 EURASIAN GOLDFINCHES have apparently survived the winter on Governors Island, which reopens to the public on May 1st. Historically an introduced colony had done fairly well on western Long Island to the late 1950s but then died off with only presumed escapes popping up in city parks and elsewhere since then. It will be interesting to see how these birds fare.

Among the few spring migrants appearing here, despite the weather, have been coastal PIPING PLOVER as of Saturday and YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON as of Monday. There have also been more sightings this week of OSPREY, LAUGHING GULL and TREE SWALLOWS.

To phone in reports on Long Island call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126 or call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922.

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

- End transcript