New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, October, 26, 2018:

- RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* Oct. 26, 2018
* NYNY1810.26

- Birds mentioned
PURPLE GALLINULE+
SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Tundra Swan
EURASIAN WIGEON
Redhead
Cory's Shearwater
American Bittern
CATTLE EGRET
GOLDEN EAGLE
HUDSONIAN GODWIT
MARBLED GODWIT
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte's Gull
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
POMARINE JAEGER
Parasitic Jaeger
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
American Robin
Orange-crowned Warbler
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (western subspecies "Audubon's" form)
Yellow-breasted Chat
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
Vesper Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Nelson's Sparrow
BLUE GROSBEAK
DICKCISSEL
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
EVENING GROSBEAK

- Transcript

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 nysarc44 (at)nybirds{dot}org.

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: Ben Cacace

BEGIN TAPE

Greetings. This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, October 26th 2018 at 8pm. The highlights of today's tape are PURPLE GALLINULE, SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER, EURASIAN WIGEON, CATTLE EGRET, MARBLED GODWIT, HUDSONIAN GODWIT, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, POMARINE JAEGER, GOLDEN EAGLE, Audubon's form of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, EVENING GROSBEAK, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, BLUE GROSBEAK, DICKCISSEL and much more.

An interesting week with good rarities at either end of Long Island and a lot in between.

The immature PURPLE GALLINULE, found last Friday afternoon in Prospect Park, happily continued around the east side of Prospect Park Lake at least through Wednesday with no reports since then. That area also produced other interesting birds including a warbler catching AMERICAN BITTERN on Sunday and a NELSON'S SPARROW to Monday.

Out in the Montauk area a SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER was found Saturday at the Deep Hollow Dude Ranch mostly using fences on the south side of Route 27 perhaps the same SCISSOR-TAILED that had spent awhile previously in the Albany area. The flycatcher has not been reported out there since Sunday.

A drake EURASIAN WIGEON was still at the Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Center in Brooklyn today and while on Brooklyn waterfowl we apologize for a report of TUNDRA SWAN last Friday in Brooklyn it was actually an immature Mute Swan. Waterfowl variety locally does continue to increase including 3 REDHEAD showing up a Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Tuesday. A CATTLE EGRET was present for a short while along Ocean Parkway just east of Jones Beach State Park last Sunday. At Jones Beach West End 5 MARBLED GODWITS were still present on the bar off the Coast Guard Station yesterday and 2 HUDSONIAN GODWITS were still at Miller Field on Staten Island on Monday. Up to 4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS continue at Santapogue Creek off Venetian Boulevard in West Babylon. Late this afternoon an active congregation of birds off Robert Moses State Park field 2 included, among the gulls and terns, 8 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES and 65 BONAPARTE'S GULLS along with a very interested group of 10 PARASITIC JAEGERS and a single POMARINE JAEGER. Another such gathering off Montauk Point last Saturday featured 100s of CORY'S SHEARWATERS and 4 PARASITIC JAEGERS.

The hawk season continues and GOLDEN EAGLES have appeared locally including one over Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan Sunday and another at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye Wednesday these overshadowed by the record 128 counted Thursday at Franklin Mountain in Oneonta. A heavy coastal Long Island flight of landbirds Thursday morning included expected species like YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, NORTHERN FLICKER and AMERICAN ROBIN but also heavy numbers of PURPLE FINCHES and PINE SISKINS the latter fueling the hope of a good winter finch flight coming up. A few EVENING GROSBEAKS have already appeared regionally including one Wednesday at Sunken Meadow State Park and on Thursday 2 at the north end of Central Park and another in Setauket. The massive arrival of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS included an Audubon's form found Tuesday at Pine Neck Sanctuary in East Quogue.

A few ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were noted this week and 2 YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS visited downtown Manhattan parks to mid week. BLUE GROSBEAKS were reported from Prospect Park Saturday and Kissena Park Monday with a DICKCISSEL at Jones Beach West End Saturday.

CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS included one at Floyd Bennett Field last weekend, one at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn to today and 2 in Kissena Park yesterday. GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS were noted at Robert Moses State Park Monday and Jones Beach West End Wednesday while higher than normal VESPER SPARROWS included 6 at Croton Point Park Monday, 5 on Staten Island and 2 on Governors Island Sunday and 2 at Jones Beach West End Tuesday with several others around. NELSON'S SPARROWS included one in Central Park Sunday.

Among the plethora of rather late migrants still being seen was an apparent YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER at Owl's Head Park in Brooklyn today.

To phone in reports on Long Island, call Tony Lauro at (631) 734-4126, or call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922.

This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.

- End transcript