New York City Rare Bird Alert

Below is the New York City Rare Bird Alert for the week ending Friday, July 12, 2019:

-RBA
* New York
* New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
* July 12, 2019
* NYNY1907.12

- Birds Mentioned
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD+
BRIDLED TERN+
MISSISSIPPI KITE+
(+ Details requested by NYSARC)

Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
SANDHILL CRANE
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Parasitic Jaeger
Gull-billed Tern
Black Tern
LEACH’S STORM-PETREL
Cory’s Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
MANX SHEARWATER
BROWN PELICAN
Ovenbird
European Goldfinch

+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, Tony Lauro, and Shai Mitra
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County

Transcriber: Shai Mitra

[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]

Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, July 12, 2019 at 6:00 pm.

The highlights of today’s tape include RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, continuing SANDHILL CRANE and BRIDLED TERN, MISSISSIPPI KITE, LEACH’S STORM-PETREL, MANX SHEARWATER, BROWN PELICAN, and other seasonal seabirds and shorebirds.

A report of a RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD at a feeding station at a private residence in Stony Brook on Sunday, 7 July was not only very rare, but also on a very remarkable date.

Also very rare was a MISSISSIPPI KITE soaring over the Cemetery of the Resurrection on Staten Island, on Monday, 8 July.

Two long-staying rarities that continued into this week were the SANDHILL CRANE in Napeague and the BRIDLED TERN at Great Gull Island. The latter site is a sensitive research station that cannot be visited without permission, but the tern has been viewed from boats positioned off of the northeastern point of the island.

Four BROWN PELICANS were reported from Smith Point County Park on Thursday, and another from West Meadow Beach, flying toward Stony Brook on Wednesday.

This point in the summer offers the potential for wandering birds of many kinds to show up almost anywhere. Some recent examples include a BUFFLEHEAD at the Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside, Nassau County, on Wednesday, a RING-NECKED DUCK at Blydenburgh County Park in Suffolk County on Sunday, an OVENBIRD far from breeding habitat at Baldwin Harbor Park in Nassau County, on Sunday, and EUROPEAN GOLDFINCHES at two sites in Brooklyn over the weekend.

The summer shorebird season has commenced, with many reports of early-migrating species, such as LEAST SANDPIPER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, and GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS. Among the more unusual reports have been single WHIMBRELS at West Meadow Beach and Shinnecock on Saturday, 6 July.

A boat trip to offshore Suffolk County waters on Wednesday reported a LEACH’S STORM-PETREL and a MANX SHEARWATER, among other, more expected species.

Seawatching from shore continues to be slow, but small numbers of GREAT and CORY’S SHEARWATERS have been widely reported from ocean vantages in Suffolk County; highlights have included a PARASITIC JAEGER harassing terns at Lake Montauk Inlet on Wednesday and a SOOTY SHEARWATER and four BLACK TERNS off Robert Moses State Park on Thursday. More unusual was a report of a GULL-BILLED TERN at Smith Point County Park on Thursday, well east of currently known breeding stations.

For next week also, the Rare Bird Alert will be recorded by Shai Mitra. To send in reports this next week, email or call Shai Mitra at (email address filtered) or 631-666-7624; or, on Long Island, please call Tony Lauro at 631-734-4126. Tom Burke will resume recording the RBA on July
26.

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

- End transcript