New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, April 26, 2019:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* April 26, 2019
* NYNY1904.26

- Birds Mentioned

BLACK-NECKED STILT+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Whip-poor-will
AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER
Red Knot
Least Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
ICELAND GULL
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Little Blue Heron
CATTLE EGRET
Black Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Bank Swallow
Swainson’s Thrush
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
Seaside Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Ovenbird
Worm-eating Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
KENTUCKY WARBLER
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Cerulean Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
SUMMER TANAGER
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
BLUE GROSBEAK
Indigo Bunting

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: Gail Benson

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, April 26, 2019 at 9:00 pm.

The highlights of today's tape are BLACK-NECKED STILT, AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, ICELAND GULL, CATTLE EGRET, PROTHONOTARY, YELLOW-THROATED, KENTUCKY and other spring WARBLERS, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and more.

After last year’s absence, certainly a welcome find last Sunday was a BLACK-NECKED STILT visiting storm pools on the grassy lawns of Nickerson Beach just west of Point Lookout. The STILT continued around the pools until Thursday, when it moved across Lido Boulevard to the marsh at the Lido Beach Passive Natural Area, where it remained today and could be nicely viewed from the berm on the south side of the marsh. At Nickerson two winter-plumaged AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were also present last weekend, while at the Passive Natural Area other reports included a BLUE GROSBEAK Wednesday and LEAST SANDPIPER and RED KNOT among the shorebirds there towards the end of the week.

The increasing number of WARBLERS featured male PROTHONOTARY WARBLERS in Central Park on Monday and in Prospect Park up to Thursday, while a decent showing of YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS included one in Central Park last Saturday, another in Prospect Park Sunday to Tuesday, one in Forest Park seen again Tuesday, one found at the Alley Pond Environmental Center Wednesday, and the continuing male at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Also quite notable was an ORANGE CROWNED WARBLER in Central Park yesterday, a KENTUCKY WARBLER in Forest Park, Queens today, and a CERULEAN WARBLER found on territory north of New York City at Bashakill today. Other Warblers arriving lately have included OVENBIRD, WORM-EATING, both LOUISIANA and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES, BLUE-WINGED, BLACK-AND-WHITE, NASHVILLE, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, AMERICAN REDSTART, NORTHERN PARULA, YELLOW, BLACK-THROATED BLUE, PRAIRIE, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN.

Two other southern specialties appeared this week, with a SUMMER TANAGER visiting Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn last Saturday and another noted on Staten Island Wednesday, while a few BLUE GROSBEAKS included two reported from Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park Monday as well as singles at Hempstead Lake State Park Sunday and after, and one at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Wednesday.

Two CATTLE EGRETS were noted on Monday and again today at Miller Field on Staten Island.

An ICELAND GULL was photographed with a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at Tobay yesterday, and a smattering of other LESSER BLACK-BACKEDS included two at Heckscher State Park Monday and two each at Mecox and Sagg Pond out east Tuesday, with a few others also around.

Mid-week sightings of RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS featured one at Pelham Bay Tuesday, another at Jones Beach West End Wednesday, and a third at Lido Beach Thursday.

Some BLACK VULTURES and various HAWKS, now including numbers of BROAD-WINGEDS, continue to move through our area, and other non-passerines arriving lately have included YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, and LITTLE BLUE HERON.

Among the passerines, the first GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHERS and EASTERN KINGBIRDS have appeared, other additions featuring WARBLING and RED-EYED VIREOS, BANK SWALLOW, SWAINSON’S THRUSH and SEASIDE SPARROW, as well as such colorful favorites as BALTIMORE and ORCHARD ORIOLES, SCARLET TANAGER, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK and INDIGO BUNTING.

A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW has returned to the wonderful grasslands in Calverton at the site of the former Grumman Airport, this a site very worthy of preservation.

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.