New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, August 10, 2018:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Aug. 10, 2018
* NYNY1808.10

- Birds Mentioned

ROSEATE SPOONBILL+
BRIDLED TERN+
AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER+

(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

BROWN PELICAN
WHIMBREL
Stilt Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Tern
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Purple Martin
Cliff Swallow
Orange-crowned Warbler
MOURNING WARBLER
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
BLUE GROSBEAK

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, August 10, 2018 at 11 pm.

The highlights of today's tape are BRIDLED TERN, BROWN PELICAN, AUDUBON’S SHEARWATER, WHIMBREL, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, BLUE GROSBEAK, MOURNING WARBLER, and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, plus a ROSEATE SPOONBILL update.

The BRIDLED TERN first spotted roosting on Great Gull Island last Friday was still present today along with the many COMMON and ROSEATE TERNS. Please remember that Great Gull is an important research station, and the general public is not permitted to land on the island. The BRIDLED TERN can, however, often be seen either as it roosts with other terns on the northeast section of the island or as it is feeding around the island.

Only one report of BROWN PELICAN this week mentioned two apparently seen briefly as they flew by Heckscher State Park Wednesday. Watching the southern coast and inlets on Long Island could still produce further sightings this season.

A boat well south of Long Island last Monday encountered a few AUDUBON’S SHEARWATERS as well as other expected species. It was otherwise a much slower week for pelagic species in near-shore waters.

The shorebird season continues to percolate, with the first of the juveniles beginning to arrive to replace the departing adults. WHIMBRELS this week featured five out in Jamaica Bay last Sunday and ten counted off Watch Hill on Fire Island Tuesday, with a few others also about.

At Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, both the East and West Ponds have been attracting shorebirds, the East Pond mainly during higher tides, while the vegetated flats in the southeastern corner of the West Pond have been surprisingly productive generally. Counts from last Sunday comparatively mentioned 35 STILT SANDPIPERS on the West Pond, 27 on the East Pond, but the East Pond variety also included 6 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, 2 flyby WHIMBRELS and a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. Two LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS were also noted a couple of days later along with 40 STILT and 15 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS have also begun to appear there.

Notable among the continuing few LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS along the coast were six at Watch Hill on Fire Island Tuesday and five at Breezy Point Wednesday.

A GULL-BILLED TERN was still being seen at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach at least to Tuesday.

Continuing unusual nesters include the RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS at Connetquot River State Park and the BLUE GROSBEAKS at the Calverton Grasslands around the former Grumman Airport.

Some interesting migrant land birds this week include several species of WARBLERS, notably separate MOURNINGS last Sunday in Central Park and Marshlands Conservancy in Rye and what would be a very unexpected ORANGE-CROWNED in Central Park today. A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was also reported from Central Park today, and other WARBLERS cited this week include BLACK-THROATED BLUE, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, NORTHERN PARULA, and CANADA. Also noteworthy was an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER in Central Park Sunday plus some PURPLE MARTINS and CLIFF SWALLOWS.

As a note, the ROSEATE SPOONBILL at the Wallkill River NWR, mostly staying in the lower New Jersey section, last Sunday morning got up and headed north through Orange County, perhaps all the way up to Quebec, where their first record appeared there Tuesday.

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