New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, September 21, 2018:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Sept. 21, 2018
* NYNY1809.21

- Birds Mentioned

WHITE IBIS+
MISSISSIPPI KITE+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Cory’s Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Broad-winged Hawk
Virginia Rail
Sora
American Golden-Plover
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
HUDSONIAN GODWIT
MARBLED GODWIT
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER
Long-billed Dowitcher
Parasitic Jaeger
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
WESTERN KINGBIRD
Blue-headed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Purple Finch
Worm-eating Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
CERULEAN WARBLER
Yellow-breasted Chat
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
LARK SPARROW
BLUE GROSBEAK
DICKCISSEL

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, September 21, 2018 at 11 pm. The highlights of today's tape are WHITE IBIS, MISSISSIPPI KITE, MARBLED and HUDSONIAN GODWITS, BUFF-BREASTED and BAIRD’S SANDPIPERS, CONNECTICUT and CERULEAN WARLERS, LARK and CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, BLUE GROSBEAK, DICKCISSEL and more.

This week’s two most unusual reports both involve rather brief sightings, first an adult WHITE IBIS flying north over JFK Bird Sanctuary at Tobay late Sunday morning and then an adult MISSISSIPPI KITE moving south over Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island Monday morning – neither have been reported since.

A WESTERN KINGBIRD found Saturday at the Alley Pond Environmental Center did stick around for the day, unlike the one only seen in flight at Jones Beach West End Wednesday morning.

Single MARBLED GODWITS last Sunday out in Jamaica Bay and at Cupsogue County Park in Westhampton Dunes were followed by five together on the bar east of the Jones Beach West End Coast Guard Station on Thursday afternoon.

HUDSONIAN GODWITS included one on the sod fields off Route 51 in Centerport Sunday increasing to two by Thursday, these fields just east of Route 111, another HUDSONIAN at Mecox Inlet Wednesday and Thursday, and one in Eastport today.

A BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER at Heckscher State Park Saturday was followed Sunday by two on the Route 51 sod fields and another briefly at Cupsogue, and a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER was spotted out at Breezy Point this morning.

Four WHIMBRELS were out on the Jamaica Bay islands last Sunday, two again today.

Two AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were at Mecox Wednesday and Thursday, with two more at Heckscher Thursday, and six LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS were among the Santapogue Creek shorebirds present off Venetian Boulevard in West Babylon last Sunday.

Last Saturday at Mecox there were six CASPIAN, fourteen ROYAL and four BLACK TERNS, with six more ROYAL TERNS at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach, and today two CASPIAN TERNS visited Playland Park in Rye.

A MANX SHEARWATER was in Long Island Sound just west of Montauk Point last Monday, with a few CORY’S SHEARWATERS also noted there, and two CORY’S off Mecox yesterday were joined by three PARASITIC JAEGERS.

Two SORAS were at the south end of the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last Sunday, and a VIRGINIA RAIL visited Prospect Park Wednesday.

Among the birds noted during a morning flight on Wednesday at Robert Moses State Park were an UPLAND SANDPIPER and three DICKCISSELS.

Several reports of PHILADELPHIA VIREOS this week included singles last Saturday at Coney Island Creek, Jones Beach West End and Southards Pond in Babylon, with birds also in Central and Prospect Parks this week.

A BLUE GROSBEAK stayed at Jones Beach West End from Saturday to at least Thursday.

A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was found at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery on Wednesday, and single LARK SPARROWS were noted in Brooklyn at Calvert Vaux Park last Saturday and at Owls Head Park yesterday.

An adult male CERULEAN WARBLER was a surprise in Central Park Thursday, and CONNECTICUT WARBLERS this week were reported at Heckscher State Park Saturday and Floyd Bennet Field Sunday, while the good variety of additional WARBLERS also included WORM-EATING and ORANGE-CROWNED among the more expected species.

A YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was seen in Central Park last Saturday as well as yesterday and today at the north end.

Besides at Connetquot River State Park, single RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were noted on Wednesday at Fort Tilden and Croton Point Park. Other notable migrants this week featured YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, more PURPLE FINCHES, and a good variety of HAWKS including some BROAD-WINGEDS, with the bulk of these moving well inland this year.

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