New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October 5, 2018:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct. 05, 2018
* NYNY1810.05

- Birds Mentioned

Common Nighthawk
Whimbrel
HUDSONIAN GODWIT
MARBLED GODWIT
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
Short-billed Dowitcher
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER
Wilson’s Snipe
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Broad-winged Hawk
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Red-headed Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
CONNECTICUT WARBLER
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Cape May Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Vesper Sparrow
LARK SPARROW
Nelson’s Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
BLUE GROSBEAK
DICKCISSEL
Rusty Blackbird

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, October 5, 2018 at 9 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape are MARBLED and HUDSONIAN GODWITS, BAIRD’S SANDPIPER, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LARK and CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, BLUE GROSBEAK, DICKCISSEL and more.

A week of decent variety featured 5 MARBLED GODWITS last weekend on the bar adjacent to the Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach West End. First noted there on September 20, their numbers increased to 6 by Tuesday; a single was also seen last Saturday at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where 2 HUDSONIAN GODWITS were also present last weekend on the East Pond.

Four WHIMBRELS were still around Fort Tilden last Sunday, while 3 BAIRD’S SANDPIPERS at Breezy Point’s tip on Saturday dropped to 1 on Sunday.

Up to 4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS continue with other shorebirds, including some SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, along Santapogue Creek off Venetian Boulevard in West Babylon – please be careful not to intrude onto private property when visiting this area.

A WILSON’S SNIPE was flushed at Floyd Bennett Field last Saturday.

Three CASPIAN TERNS were at Breezy Point last Saturday, with 2 more at Mecox that day, and 2 appeared at Robert Moses State Park Wednesday, while the more frequent ROYAL TERNS along the coast included 8 at Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach last Saturday.

A RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was spotted in Central Park Tuesday, and 1 or more continue at Connetquot River State Park.

Among the passerines, WARBLERS expectedly continue to decline both in variety and numbers – among the more notable this week were single CONNECTICUTS in Central Park Saturday and on Governor’s Island Sunday, with a MOURNING at Floyd Bennett Field Saturday, and early ORANGE-CROWNEDS were reported from Fort Tilden Sunday and Gardiner’s Park in West Babylon Thursday. TENNESSEE, CAPE MAY, and BAY-BREASTED WARBLERS are among the other migrants still being seen, though now the WARBLERS are mostly PALM, BLACKPOLL, YELLOW-RUMPED and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT. Single YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were noted this week in Central Park last Saturday, in Mattituck Sunday and at Robert Moses State Park Wednesday.

A LARK SPARROW lingered in Central Park’s north end to last Saturday, and single CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS were noted in Kissena Park in Queens Sunday, at Floyd Bennett Field on Wednesday, and at Croton Point Park in Westchester Wednesday. Croton also featured VESPER SPARROW as well as a DICKCISSEL Thursday, the latter just 1 of several DICKCISSELS noted this week. Others chronologically included 2 at Fort Tilden and 1 each at Howard Beach and Robert Moses State Park last Saturday, 1 at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens Sunday, 1 at Crab Meadow Beach Tuesday, and singles at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and in Central Park today.

BLUE GROSBEAKS, besides 2 continuing on private property in Manhasset, included 1 on Fire Island Saturday and 1 out in Orient Thursday.

A small number of PHILADELPHIA VIREOS featured 2 at Robert Moses State Park last Sunday, that same day also finding a couple of PINE SISKINS moving by. Several SISKINS and good numbers already of PURPLE FINCHES certainly raise hopes of a good winter finch movement coming up.

FLYCATCHERS this week included a couple of reports of OLIVE-SIDED plus various Empidonax species, and also still coming through are the last of the COMMON NIGHTHAWKS and both BLACK-BILLED and YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS as well as BROAD-WINGED HAWKS. Other notable migrants this week included YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RUSTY-BLACKBIRD and such arriving SPARROWS as NELSON’S, LINCOLN’S and WHITE-CROWNED.

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