New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 20, 2018:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Apr. 20, 2018
* NYNY1804.20

- Birds Mentioned


WHITE-FACED IBIS+
WOOD SANDPIPER+
WESTERN TANAGER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Sooty Shearwater
Green Heron
Glossy Ibis
Broad-winged Hawk
Piping Plover
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
WHIMBREL
Purple Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
RED PHALAROPE
POMARINE JAEGER
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Bank Swallow
Swainson’s Thrush
Wood Thrush
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Prairie Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
BLUE GROSBEAK
Indigo Bunting


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, April 20, 2018 at 8:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are WOOD SANDPIPER, an interesting WHIMBREL, RED PHALAROPE, WHITE-FACED IBIS, POMARINE JAEGER, WESTERN TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, SUMMER TANAGER, YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER and more spring arrivals.

Though it doesn’t really feel like spring, some great birds are appearing despite, or because of, the unusual weather patterns we’ve been experiencing.

A great find was New York’s third WOOD SANDPIPER, spotted late Monday afternoon on a temporary fairway wet area at Timber Point Golf Course at the end of Great River Road in Great River. The Sandpiper was still present Tuesday morning but left by 11 AM and could not be relocated thereafter. Good photos were obtained. New York’s first record, a 1907 specimen from upstate, was only correctly identified decades later in a museum, and another spent six days in Rye in late 1990.

Another very interesting shorebird flying by Breezy Point last Sunday was identified as a WHIMBREL, and two photographs of not the best quality do show a white wedge up the back of the bird, indicating this would apparently be a Eurasian form of WHIMBREL. Making it even more interesting is that perhaps the possibility of Eurasian Curlew cannot fully be ruled out.

Joining the great shorebird parade was a RED PHALAROPE still in non-breeding plumage that was photographed last Tuesday as it swam in the bay south of the Pelham Bay landfill.

Other notable shorebirds included single WHIMBREL posted from Breezy Point last Saturday, hopefully looked at carefully, and one at Heckscher State Park Wednesday. Breezy Point also featured 8 PIPING PLOVERS and 32 PURPLE SANDPIPERS last Sunday, and both SHORT- and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS were identified at Timber Point Tuesday, while arrivals included SPOTTED and SOLITARY SANDPIPERS.

On Thursday two WHITE-FACED IBIS were identified in a GLOSSY IBIS flock at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area, this followed by one seen briefly this morning at nearby Cow Meadow Park in Freeport.

Most notable among the landbirds was a female WESTERN TANAGER photographed Monday afternoon in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

A nice push of southern specialties into our area included a number of YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, with one at Jones Beach West End Saturday morning, one in Central Park last weekend, and one in Prospect Park from Saturday increasing to two by Monday and on into the week. Another continues at Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

SUMMER TANAGERS also erupted this week, with one in Prospect Park Monday, one at Stony Brook Tuesday, one visiting Hempstead Lake State Park Tuesday to Thursday, one in Van Cortland Park Tuesday, one in Central Park Thursday, and one in Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery for a few days to today, joined there by a BLUE GROSBEAK. Another BLUE GROSBEAK visited a feeder in Ridge Tuesday.

A POMARINE JAEGER was photographed Monday in the Point Lookout parking lot, coming in from the storm, and two early SOOTY SHEARWATERS were spotted that day off Tiana Beach west of Shinnecock Inlet.

Three CASPIAN TERNS visited Great Kills Park on Staten Island last Saturday, with an ICELAND GULL there also.

A few LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were topped by the nine at Floyd Bennett Field and eight at Robert Moses State Park during the storm Monday.

An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was present in Crocheron Park in Queens yesterday and today.

A nice list of arrivals this week has included GREEN HERON, COMMON TERN, more FORSTER’S TERNS, EASTERN KINGBIRD, WARBLING and RED-EYED VIREOS, BANK SWALLOW, WOOD and SWAINSON’S THRUSHES, SCARLET TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and a few INDIGO BUNTINGS. WARBLERS have included OVENBIRD and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, PRAIRIE and HOODED.

A nice BROAD-WINGED HAWK flight north of the City last Saturday included 36 over Sterling Forest followed by 116 at Mine Road north of Bear Mountain during brief hawk watches.

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