New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, July 27, 2018
NYC Area-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* July 27, 2018
* LINY 1807.27


- BIRDS Mentioned

ANHINGA+ [extralimital]
ROSEATE SPOONBILL+ [extralimital]

WHITE-FACED STORM-PETREL+
LEACH’S STORM-PETREL+
RUFF+
SOUTH POLAR SKUA+
BRIDLED TERN+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cory's Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
BROWN PELICAN
Cattle Egret
Western Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Parasitic Jaeger
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
BLUE GROSBEAK
SUMMER TANAGER
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow Warbler

Greetings, this is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, July 27th, at 4:00 p.m.

The highlights of today’s tape are Leach’s Storm-Petrels, Cattle Egret, Brown Pelicans, Ruff, belated highlights from an offshore trip to Hudson Canyon last week including White-faced Storm-Petrel, South Polar Skua, and Bridled Tern, and extralimital Anhinga and Roseate Spoonbill.

The nearby Hudson Valley hosted two mega-rarities last week, an Anhinga studied closely and photographed during a brief visit to Morningside Park, in Fallsburg, Sullivan County, and a long-staying Roseate Spoonbill at the Walkill River NWR, just across the border in New Jersey.

An offshore survey conducted from July 14th to 21st by researchers from Stony Brook University encountered thousands of shearwaters of the four expected species, as well as 1700 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels. Extremely noteworthy were two sightings of White-faced Storm-Petrels, on the early dates of July 17th and 19th, and single South Polar Skua and Bridled Tern.

From Saturday through Wednesday, our area experienced an unusually long-sustained period of southeasterly winds, associated with productive seawatching along the ocean coast. Traditional sites such as Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett and Robert Moses SP produced many excellent counts, and locally noteworthy records were achieved in the extreme eastern Long Island Sound, near Great Gull Island, and as far west as Breezy Point, in part owing to increased coverage there this summer.

The most numerous pelagic species has been Cory’s Shearwater, with counts of hundreds at several sites. Significant numbers of Great and Sooty Shearwaters have also been observed, as well as smaller numbers of Manx Shearwater, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, and Parasitic Jaeger. Most unusual in this regard have been Leach’s Storm-Petrels, including a distressed individual picked up in a puddle in Amityville and another photographed and videotaped within feet of a boat inside Moriches Bay, both on Wednesday, and a sight report from Amagansett on Sunday. This species is exceptionally rare from land on Long Island and every effort should be made to document reports.

Brown Pelican reports have slowed down since last week, but one or two birds have been seen at Cupsogue County Park and Robert Moses, both on Saturday, Breezy Point on Thursday, and at Jones Beach West End and at the West Bank Lighthouse in Raritan Bay today. A Cattle Egret was seen at Miller Field, Staten Island, on Wednesday.

Shorebird migration is well underway, headlined by a Ruff that made a brief appearance at Heckscher State Park on Sunday. The first Western Sandpipers of the season were found at Cupsogue last weekend, and Jamaica Bay’s East Pond has attracted a nice variety of birds, including counts of 18 Stilt Sandpipers on Tuesday, and 78 today.

Reports of landbirds have been few, in this lull period between fledging and the onset of heavy migration. One Red-headed Woodpecker was still present at Connequot River State Park Preserve on Saturday, a Blue Grosbeak was seen near Preston Pond, Calverton, also on Saturday, and a Summer Tanager at Hidden Ponds Preserve in East Hampton today. A Magnolia Warbler at Central Park on Sunday and Yellow Warblers overhead at Robert Moses on Thursday are indicative of the impending southbound passerine migration.

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.